I'll Fight For You
by Aikat3rin3
Summary: Merging with the Kyuubi. They thought Naruto was too strong to let it happen, but when it does Naruto can't save himself. He needs someone, but is Sasuke willing to come back and save him? And why does the Kyuubi want them together?    SasuNaruSasu Mpreg
1. Merging

I don't own Naruto.

Merging with the Kyuubi. Everyone though Naruto was too strong to let it happen, but when it does, Naruto isn't able to and doesn't know how to save himself. He needs someone, but will Sasuke be willing to come back and save Naruto again? And what about the Kyuubi? It seems the demon has its own reasons for wanting the two of them together, but even a demon might not be able to pull off getting them to hook up. It's war again, but this time, the only person on one side is Naruto, and the only fighter on the other is Sasuke. They're up against the world, is their determination enough to push them past the hard times?

Warnings: SasuNaruSasu, Mpreg, Sakura bashing (you'll be able to see how much I hate her throughout the course of the story), LEMON, yaoi, and my ideas ;P BEWARE! jk :)

THIS WILL ALSO PROBABLY CONTAIN SPOILERS! I HAVE WARNED YOU, IT IS NOT MY FAULT NOW IF THIS RUINS SOMETHING FOR YOU!

Merging

"As of today, all of you standing in front of me are ANBU. Congratulations to everyone. Starting today—"

Naruto tuned out the instructor and let his eyes flick around him. Strangers. He didn't know a single ninja who had graduated with him.

His cheeks burned again, a sharp, slicing pain, and he bit his lip viciously not to cry out, his hands clenching and unclenching in his pockets. He sighed as the pain subsided and flexed his fingers.

_It's becoming worse._ His brow furrowed. The last meeting with Sasuke had been nothing but hell. The words the raven had said, Naruto had never heard anything so hurtful. The raven had told him that he planned to destroy Konoha and everything in it.

Naruto had gone insane after that, training every day until he passed out, just to get ahead as far as he could. Maybe he had pushed himself too hard, because he could feel it, every time he used chakra, he could feel Kyuubi's chakra bleeding into his, and he couldn't keep them separate anymore.

Eventually, Tsunade had let him take the chunin exam—which he had passed with flying colors—before he went right back to training until he dropped.

He had to protect the village, no matter how bad the majority of it had treated him over the years, there were people here that did care about him. His father had been the fourth Hokage for this village, he couldn't let it die. It was his home. He would protect it.

Naruto didn't know what made him decide it, but the next time he felt Kyuubi leaking into his chakra, he welcomed it, and learned how to use it to get even better than Neji, Sai, and in some cases, even Kakashi. It wasn't easy, the heat burned at his cells every time he performed any jutsu with chakra, but he dealt with it, telling himself that the pain would be even worse if Sasuke managed to destroy the village.

His chakra amounts had doubled, and then tripled, and he mastered chakra control in a single day thanks to Kyuubi. Not only that, but he had broken into the Hokage's stored completely undetected thanks to Kyuubi and 'borrowed' the secret scrolls over a series of two months, and in just those two months, he had mastered every secret and forbidden jutsu there was known to Konoha.

Tsunade was obviously shocked by his acceleration as a ninja, but didn't complain due to her choosing him to be the next Hokage. And three weeks later he took the Jounin exams, and not another two weeks later, he was chosen to become an ANBU.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded, his hands still tight in his pockets as he took the necessary three steps forward, looking the leader in the eye.

The man handed him a cloak and armor, gesturing him to the right where a woman was standing with an un-carved mask in her hands.

"What animal do you choose?" she asked, not making eye contact with him. Naruto was used to the treatment, and easily brushed over it, staring long and hard at the material in her hands. He could see it, Kyuubi's face, glowing like embers in it.

"A fox." He said firmly. Shocked eyes locked on him, the people's muscles stiffening. Naruto held his ground, waiting for her to create the image in it.

The woman floundered for a second before looking over at the ANBU captain for approval. He considered for a moment before nodding. The woman nodded grimly in return and held her hand over the porcelain, her fingertip glowing red as she traced the features, burning the picture into the clay.

She handed it over to him, dropping it at the last second so as not to touch him. He caught it easily, his movements now one of the fastest in the village. He nodded thanks to her even though she had already moved onto the next person and stepped the right again, choosing his Ninjato and sliding it onto his back before stepping to the right again as the leader called the next graduate.

He pulled off his orange jacket and the man tattooed the ANBU symbol onto his arm before nodding, and Naruto stepped back into the line of new ANBU.

He hadn't give up hope that Sasuke would return, he wouldn't let himself, but with Kyuubi's chakra, came Kyuubi's voice, and sometimes his influence. And Kyuubi had some very harsh opinions about the youngest Uchiha, especially when Naruto would go into a temporary depression because of him.

_**You can leave now, kit.**_

Naruto sighed and turned, striding back to his apartment.

"Naruto!" Sakura raced up to him the second he was out of the ANBU training territories. "Did you pass, how did it go?" she blubbered excitedly.

He forced a smile and beamed proudly. "I passed! Highest in the class!"

He had never been the highest in anything before he had merged with Kyuubi, but being the highest had allowed him to succeed this fast, he wasn't complaining. In all common senses, he should still be with Sakura, preparing to take his chunin exams, both of them just turning eighteen.

"Naruto that's amazing!" she crowed, pulling him into a tight hug. He held her, but his body wasn't in the same reaction as he would have been a few months ago. Usually, he would have been ecstatic to see her, and would have kissed her on the cheek right now, but it wasn't two months ago, and for some reason, she just felt like a nuisance, just in the way of him and his bed. He was exhausted.

"You got better so fast, the next time we go for Sasuke, we're definitely bringing him back!" she sang happily.

Naruto's stomach lurched as Kyuubi growled territorially.

_What?_ He snapped mentally.

_**She has no business with the Uchiha.**_ The fox growled.

_Sasuke's a bastard, but you don't need to be __**that**__ mean. _Naruto cringed. _Sakura was his friend, and she's still head over heels for him._

_**That isn't what I meant, runt.**_

_Then what the hell __**did**__ you mean?_

Naruto swore mentally as the damn fox stayed silent, moving back into the shadows of its cage, and kept his expression even by clenching and unclenching his hand over and over, feeling the way the muscles tightened and released and trying just to concentrate on that.

"So how about I treat you to Ichiraku's?" Sakura offered happily, stepping in front of him to stop him from walking.

"Eh…" Naruto grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "sorry Sakura, but I'm really tired… from the exam and all…" he had to get away. He didn't know if it was from the exam, or the way he'd been pushing himself, but he could feel the fatigue eating away at him. The darkness was starting to cloud over his eyes, making everything blurry, and his body heat was slowly rising to dangerous temperatures.

"Oh," she said quickly, "that's ok, I understand, you're tired. Go home and sleep Naruto, I'll see you tomorrow!" she waved.

He nodded in relief that she'd agreed so quickly before closing his eyes and activating Kyuubi's chakra, and in a flash of red, he was gone.

Sakura frowned as soon as she was sure he was far enough away.

_He isn't good, and I'm not the one he needs right now. It's Sasuke, he needs the only best friend he ever had. _She sighed, looking towards the sky. _Sasuke, can't you feel how much he misses you? How much I still love you? You were always so smart, you can't be oblivious to our feelings, please, please, __**please**__ come home if you can feel them._ She clasped her hands, praying that he heard her.

Naruto gripped the doorframe to keep himself upright. His breathing was extremely labored, and his heart was hammering hard enough in his chest to actually, physically hurt. The world was spinning before him, and his temperature must have been at least 110 degrees, if not much, **much** more.

_W-what…_ he cried out sharply, his hands leaping to his cheeks as they burned like they'd been chopped off, _damn fox, what's happening to me?_

_**Isn't it obvious runt? Your current body can't handle my amounts of chakra, plus your own. I'm simply making some alterations to your genetic code so that you wont drop dead the next time you use any jutsu.**_

_What—_"AAH!"—_the hell are you changing?_ His spine quaked painfully, his back arching in ways he didn't think were possible for a human to bend.__

His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes traveled back to the window he had just passed and his reflection, his hands traveling up to the tips of his ears. **Pointed**. His ears were** pointed**. And the scars on his cheeks were so dark it looked like he'd painted them on with ink.

His hands shot to his cheeks as they burned like infernos, and his vision went black. He missed the last step to his door, and found himself with nothing beneath him, falling the six stories he had climbed, from his most recent apartment, to the unforgiving ground below.

Meanwhile

Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fist, unsure as to why he began doing that in the first place, he'd never had a nervous tick before, or even something as trivial as clenching your hand. Only Naruto did things like that. He was presently perched on a tree branch a good hundred feet up off the ground, staring at the sunset in thought as he did this strange nervous tick-like movement.

"What's up with you?" Suigetsu appeared over him, his sword swung over his shoulder. "You got a nervous tick or something?"

"SUIGETSU!" Karin charged up to him, winding her fist back. "DON'T TALK TO SASUKE LIKE THAT!" her fist whipped forward, Suigetsu's head exploding into water droplets that rained all over the ground.

Sasuke growled, his fist clenching as he tried not to take his aggravation out on them. He just wished they would take their arguments **somewhere else**.

Beside him, Jugo was somehow sleeping through the noise, though it was possibly due to the mission they had just been on. It had been very strenuous.

"Can't you just shut up!" he barked over his shoulder, forcing his fist to relax and stay motionless, like it usually did.

_I can't possible be having second thoughts. No, Konoha will die, and by my hands, but… maybe… if it just __**see**__ him once more… that's all, if I just see him. He's… __**was**__ my best friend, that's why it's hard._

"What?" he snapped as the two just stared at him. Karin worriedly, and Suigetsu almost as if he was questioning Sasuke's sanity.

"What is it?" Karin asked kindly, too kindly, sickeningly kindly.

Sasuke just looked back to the last rays of sun, ridding his eyes of her. The sunset was such a brilliant and radiant orange color…

_I'll go see him, and then I'll be able to finish what I started._

"I'm going to sleep." He announced, jumping out of the tree and landing lightly by his pack.

"Might as well too." Suigetsu shrugged, flopping down and undoing his bedroll.

Karin sighed, looking at Sasuke worriedly before moving to open hers too.

Back in Konoha

Naruto groaned, and moved his arm to cover his eyes against the blinding sun.

He sat up, cracking an eye and looking around.

_The hospital?_

His eyes caught sight of the bandages covering him and twisted his body this way and that to get a better look at them.

_**Are you finally awake?**_

_**YOU**__! What the hell did you do to me? I'm three times tanner than I was before! I look like I was __**cooked**__!_ His hands leapt to his ears, finding them, thankfully, not pointed, though he knew he'd seen them like that.

_What did you do?_ Naruto growled.

_**Hmm?**_ Kyuubi asked, obviously not paying attention.

_I FELT LIKE AN INFERNO BEFORE YOU OVERGROWN BALL OF ORANGE LINT! AND I KNOW MY EARS WERE POINTED! WHAT DID YOU DO?_

Kyuubi snickered. _**Oh, that? Just a few minor changes to your body kit.**_

His eyes located a mirror on the bedside table and lifted it cautiously, holding it up to his face and choking on his own spit. He gulped, scanning the length of his face. He was ten times tanner, and the scars on his cheeks were as dark as ink and as thick as rope, not like the usual small lines they were in. He looked like how he did when the Kyuubi took over save the eyes.

"****!"

_**Shut up runt, don't wake the entire village, it's barely dawn.**_ _**And don't freak out again. You're apartment building is no longer standing thanks to you passing out. I don't need another explosion to try to keep under control, the only reason Konoha is still standing is because I kept our powers from being drained, so therefore, they were unable to destroy the village, and your precious friends only lost a half a mile of area.**_

Naruto's muscles clenched, his eyes going wide. _What?_

_**You passed out, and I took over to save your sorry ass from being smashed all over the ground. Unfortunately, the building couldn't stand the heat of my fire.**_ Kyuubi chuckled.

Naruto swallowed. _Did… is anyone…?_

Kyuubi sighed in an annoyed fashion. _**Twelve hospitalized, none dead… unfortunately.**_

_I'm… dangerous?_ Naruto whimpered, fisting the blankets. He gasped as they caught fire and scrambled out of the bed, flattening himself against the far wall.

_**Relax kit, I merged with you, fire won't harm you anymore.**_

Naruto tore the aflame bandages off his arms, discarding them by his side as he clutched at his heart.

_I… wasn't in control of my chakra. _He breathed.

_**Kit? Do you have any brain?**_

"Huh?" Naruto looked up, scrambling farther back at what he saw. His bed was being engulfed in flames with sickly heat that were quickly swallowing the rest of the room.

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked in panic towards the door, where someone was pounding on it, trying to open the door despite the desk that had fallen in front of the door.

_I need to get away from here! I'm a danger to them! _He scuttled towards the window, yanking it open and tearing it out of the wall as he did so with the Kyuubi's demonic strength. He screamed as it shattered by his feet, before leaping out of the window.

His hands—clawed hands—shot out and grabbed a lower window ledge, lowering him safely to the ground. He watched in horror as the flames began to flicker out of the window before taking off for his apartment.

_I need to get away from here! _He skidded to a halt in front of… **half **of his apartment building.

_You did this?_ Naruto whispered, pleading for Kyuubi not to say yes. The building was totaled, wrapped head to toe in char marks and debris, it was totally useless now, it would have to be torn down.

Kyuubi just chuckled in response, and a gargled cry clawed its way out of Naruto's throat.

Naruto clenched his fist and tore in the opposite direction, wiping the tears furiously from his eyes.

_**What are you doing?**_ Kyuubi was still chuckling.

Naruto didn't reply.

Two Weeks Later

Sasuke sighed as he finally caught sight of the walls around Konoha even without his Sharingan. He was close.

It had been surprisingly hard to get away from everyone, even if they were all dead to the world in their sleep, but all worries of that vanished as the guards on the wall came into view. Two weeks. He swore while he still could speak without being detected. It had taken him two weeks to get away from Karin and her damn stalker habits. She was so goddamn annoying sometimes, he would trade her for a hundred Inos and Sakuras.

Sasuke slowed to a crawl, crouching and activating the Sharingan. He waited until the split second when the guard wasn't paying attention, and flashed forward, through their defenses, crouched and launched himself up and over the wall.

_I'll just go see him. I wont wake him if he's asleep, I'll just go see him, and then I can finish what I started in peace._ He bit his lip, landing lightly before leaping up to the rooftops.

It had been so long, but he knew the route to Naruto's house well. He'd 'visited' the blonde in his sleep on more than one occasion, and even if the blonde had moved, he could just trace his chakra, the idiot had never been good at hiding it, especially in his sleep.

Sasuke sped up, forcing himself not to get worked up at the sight before him.

Naruto's apartment building.

**Demolished**.

They'd already torn half of the remains down. He forced his breathing to stay regular, trying to place the lingering chakra in the scars the fire had left.

_It's… like that time, when we first met Orochimaru. His eyes… and that toxic chakra around him, seeming to swallow him, it's smothering this area. But… Naruto's chakra, it's still in the traces… did he do this?_

Sasuke whirled, forcing the Sharingan to its limits and scanning Konoha.

_It's not here._ His eyes widened, and he flew forward, trying to pick up even the tiniest bit of Naruto's chakra.

_How could I not sense him at all? Two months? There's no way he could have gotten this good in that short a time!_

After three hours of playing hide and seek with the unsuspecting guards and villagers, Sasuke turned to his last option for finding Naruto. The new Hokage.

It was what he last wanted to do, but he had no choice now. Naruto wasn't in any apartment building, he wasn't at any of their—well, **Naruto's** friends' houses, he wasn't with Kakashi, or Iruka, or in the graveyard, or at Ichiraku's, or in the market place. He wasn't hiding in any alleys, he wasn't catching frogs in any of the nearby ponds, he wasn't in any of the forest, or any of the training grounds, and Sasuke still couldn't sense him.

He was starting to worry, not that he would ever admit that, even to himself, but a section of the hospital had been in the same state as Naruto's apartment, with the same overpowering chakra staining every inch of char marks in the supposedly fire-proof walls and where ever the smoke of the fire had even brushed against.

Sasuke didn't allow himself to think that he'd caused Naruto to leave the one place he'd ever called home, to leave the people he cared about, Naruto was too stubborn.

He landed on the balls of his feet twenty feet away from the Hokage's window. He could see her, sitting at her desk, going through some paperwork from earlier missions. He would wait until she was gone and then go through the papers, to see if Naruto was on a mission.

Another painfully slow hour later, the woman finally rose, stretched, and said something that pissed of her assistant before walking out of the room, closing the door firmly shut behind her. The assistant sighed and slipped the files she'd been working on back into the filing cabinet before following after the Hokage.

Sasuke allowed himself a smirk before slipping completely undetected through the window, which had been carelessly left open and pushed his cloak back over his shoulders for better mobility.

He stepped soundlessly up to the drawers behind the Hokage's desk and pulled the one containing missions open. His finger skimmed over the files, his frown becoming more prominent as he didn't hit anything even remotely close to 'Team 7', 'Naruto', 'Uzumaki', or anything to do with Sakura, Kakashi or even Iruka.

He pushed it closed and pulled open the drawer above it, pulling out Naruto's file hastily. It was about to be dawn, he needed to hurry, Karin and Suigetsu would give him hell about where he was already, he didn't need to be discovered here too.

His eyes widened and his brow became increasingly creased at what he read in just the last two months of Naruto's history.

June 18th, Chunin exam, passed highest, defeated Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Choji in direct combat. 

_He defeated Neji again even after Neji's fought him before? Kiba and Choji were probably pushovers, but with the Byakugan… missions, useless crap… here:_

July 9th, Jounin exam, passed highest in class. 

_That fast? It was less than a month away for Christ's sake. More missions, damn it, where is it?_

July 23rd, chosen for ANBU, passed highest in class. 

_Chosen for ANBU? Highest passing grade in the class? _Sasuke checked to make sure he had the right person's folder before turning back in awe to the information written in the papers.

July 23rd. 4:52 pm. Hospitalized due to jinchuuriki condition.

_**Hospitalized**__?_

"Don't move."

Sasuke eyes flicked up to see the Hokage standing in the doorway, some sort of jutsu activating between her palms, her assistant was standing behind her, also activating a jutsu. Within milliseconds, the ANBU had materialized around him, their Ninjato drawn and poised at his neck.

Of course the window hadn't been left open by accident, she had sensed him there and known what he'd wanted. He'd walked right into their trap, but he wasn't worried in the slightest. He could take down three ANBU on his own, escaping them would be no problem.

He could easily get away, that wasn't the problem, but if Naruto had been at the hospital, Sasuke would have seen, if not felt him. He searched every room after finding it in the same burned state, but he needed to know, and these useless files weren't getting him anywhere.

"Where's Naruto?" he demanded quietly, a threat prominent in his voice.

The Hokage took a deep breath, and straightened, the jutsu in her hands dissolving. "I knew you would come for him one day, pity…"

"'Pity'?" Sasuke repeated dangerously, noting the way the ANBU shifted around him, preparing to strike if it became necessary.

The Hokage moved around him and sat at her desk, rubbing her forehead tiredly and leaning back lazily in her chair.

"Its nice to see you Sasuke." She breathed heavily. "Would be nicer if he was still…"

"Not interested." Sasuke growled, flipping the file closed and dropping it on the edge of her desk.

"…Sasuke, well, I'm assuming you saw up to Naruto becoming an ANBU, we gave you enough time—"

"Where. Is. Naruto." Sasuke snarled. His skin was crawling, something that never, **ever** happened. Something was wrong.

Tsunade looked him straight in the eye, before uttering a single word.

"Gone."

Sasuke felt his blood run colder than it had ever been, his heart plummeting into his stomach.

_No. The idiot isn't stupid enough to die. There's no way in __**hell**__._

"He left about two weeks ago, after loosing control of his chakra and destroying his building. We hospitalized him, and then felt one hell of an enormous blast of ominous power, and then he was gone. Just, up and disappeared, didn't even take anything with him, well, accept the hospital gown he was wearing, and his ANBU clothes that we brought him to the hospital in. It had some sort of jutsu on it that protected it from the fire, but it wasn't anything that Naruto knows. It was someone else's jutsu, and more specifically, the same jutsu we found in the fires in the apartment building and the hospital. I assume you saw the state of the right wing of the hospital?"

Sasuke was numb. _He… isn't dead? What the hell is wrong with him? Why the hell would he… what would be so bad to push him to leave this place? I couldn't have…_

"I'm sorry, but you are here, and you are an S-class ninja, so…" she nodded at the assistant, who leapt forward before Sasuke had a chance to come back to reality and grabbed one of his wrists with her still-powered hands. The chakra bubbled around his wrists, and if possible, he felt even more numb than before.

The seal she had put on him drowned his senses with chakra out completely, and every sense of his chakra disappeared, he even felt his Sharingan fade away.

"Take him." Tsunade nodded at the ANBU, who grabbed Sasuke's arms, dragging him towards the door.

"You just let him go?" Sasuke growled, his bangs hiding his eyes. "You just let him leave the one place he'd ever—" he snarled, struggling against the bonds. It was pointless, he couldn't defeat all the ANBU on just his strength alone. He cursed himself for letting his guard down like that.

"I wouldn't have let him go if I'd known." Tsunade cut him off harshly, rising out of her seat. "He's stupid, and I don't think he'll be able to do much for himself on his own—if he doesn't **hurt** himself—but we've had every ninja searching for him for that past two weeks. That's been the only mission. I got everyone, even the council, to agree to it by saying that it would be dangerous if he fell into an enemy's hands with his amount of power. We haven't come across any traces of him. Not a single thing, don't think down on us Sasuke." He eyes narrowed before she sank into her seat again, rubbing her hands over her eyes, and the door slammed shut in Sasuke's face.

Tsunade sighed loudly and walked to the window, staring blankly out at the forming clouds in the distance.

"Storm's coming." She said flatly to Shizune, before her eyes drifted back to the door. _And in more ways than one._

I'm begging everyone to review, and for those who don't know, you don't have to be a member to review!


	2. The Kyuubi

I don't own Naruto.

This chapter is dedicated to DaemonSyndrome for helping me with computer glitches and errors that I should have noticed before. I'm indebted to you! *Cyber hug*

The Kyuubi

"Sasuke! I can't believe it, you came—" Sakura slammed through the Hokage's door, jolting to a stop at the state Tsunade was in.

Drunk. Wasted. Utterly smashed. Sakura had never seen her so drunk before.

"Huh? Oh, whad'r'you doin' in m'office?" Tsunade spit out, her words incredibly slurred. Beside her, Shizune winced in apology.

"I heard, uh, that Sa—" Sakura began.

"Yes, yes!" Tsunade barked, sitting up suddenly and taking another huge swig out of the nearly empty bottle in her hand. No sooner had she taken the bottle from her lips, before she started to laugh uncontrollably.

"I lost my brother, and then my little brat goes and runs away on me." she mused through fits of giggling. She smashed the bottle down on her desk and slammed her palms onto the table, shooting up out of her seat.

"Was I not a good enough mentor?" she screeched, new tears bubbling in her eyes. "Why, you stupid brat? Why the hell did you leave?" she shook her fist at the sky before sinking dejectedly back into her chair. She looked quietly at the bits of glass and last drops of sake scattered about the room before reaching into a cabinet behind her and pulling out a new bottle and laughing again.

"And then, not two weeks later, the one person he's been searching for for years shows up at my front doorstep, asking where he is!" she threw her head back and laughed before downing half the bottle in one gulp.

"So Sasuke **is** here?" Sakura clasped her hands together in hope.

Tsunade nodded hugely and hiccupped. "Got'm locked up m'self." She mumbled before taking another gulp and letting her head fall onto the desk with a loud clunk. "Why did you go, brat?" she sniffed into the wood.

"Did he ask for me?" she blubbered excitedly. _Wait… _"Sasuke's locked up?" Sakura whispered, pure horror lacing her voice. Shizune nodded before nodding towards the door.

"I think you should go." She whispered. "But he's in cell block 42, restriction cell 52. Tell the guard: 'Area 64 is clear for inspection, but I still need to check on Area 122', it'll get you in."

"Don't tell her that!" Tsunade barked, glaring up at Shizune. "What if she's a spy, huh?"

"And what if I am too?" Shizune rolled her eyes, looking back to her filing cabinet, and leaving Tsunade floundering around for an answer.

Sakura forced a smile of thanks onto her face and dashed out before her real thoughts broke through.

_Cell block 42? God, that's the highest constraining area in all of Konoha, and cell 52, Kakashi mentioned it. "A cell fit to imprison a demon." Oh my god, how could they do that to him?_

Sakura charged through the hallways and down past the sub basement level. Another three flights down were the cellblocks. Block 12, block 32, block 36 and block 42.

She nodded to the guard at the gate and continued running, skidding to a halt after passing the hallways for 12, 32 and 36. She could see the blue aura covering the entrance, and turned breathlessly to the guards.

"Area 64 is clear for inspection, but I still need to check on Area 122." She whispered to the one on the right, her eyes flicking between the two on either side of the aura.

They looked between each other, clearly surprised that she knew the password, but placed their hands to the aura anyway, waving her through when it turned a lighter blue, never truly disappearing.

Sakura dashed through, counting the cells on either side of the hallway as she ran.

_54, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51…_

She slammed on her brakes, coming to the last cell in the hall. She gasped inwardly and brought her hands to her mouth.

Sasuke might as well have been wrapped head to toe in chains. A band of metal with a small blade on the inside to keep him from fighting hung around his neck and was repressing his chakra. It had four chains coming off of it, each trailing on the floor and lashed to the four corners of the room. His hands, resting in his lap as he sat on a cold and metal bed, were chained at the elbow to a very short chain connecting to the wall, and each of his wrists were likewise fastened to the wall by chains.

He still wore his shoes, but his ankles were bound not only to the wall behind him along with his arms, but also to the floor by more chains. Sakura assessed the length, it only gave him about two feet to move, if not much less.

"Sasuke?" she whispered cautiously, stepping closer and resting her hands on the bars.

His eyes—pure black in the darkness and completely robbed of life—dragged up and eventually met hers, but he didn't even blink. Sakura felt her heart sink, she hadn't changed to him, it didn't even look like he had missed her.

"I… why… did you come back?" she whispered, resting her forehead against the bars, staring at the wet and moldy ground.

He said nothing, but she'd expected as much, and was actually surprised that he was even still watching her.

And then she felt her anger bubbling up inside of her, and gripped the bars of the prison so hard her knuckles turned whiter than snow.

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt us?... How much you hurt **him**?" she clarified. Sasuke's eyes narrowed infinitesimally, but other than that, he didn't even twitch.

"It's been hell for him." Sakura continued, hoping to get more of a reaction out of the raven if she kept up talking about Naruto. "I've never seen him so dead-set against giving up on something, and considering this is Naruto, I'm assuming you know just what that means. He wouldn't tell any of us what happened when he met you again that day, but he came back with some insane wounds, and he ignored everyone of us telling him to get medical attention and went straight back to training."

This time, Sasuke did wince, being the one who'd given Naruto those wounds because the idiot wouldn't fight him for real. Some sort of shit about not wanting to hurt him.

"I thought it was for beating you at first, but he trained every day for two months until he passed out." Sakura went on. "Literally. It got to be so bad that Sai, Kakashi and I picked days of the week to just watch him and carry him back to his apartment after he dropped."

"Two months." She whispered. "Do you know how long it usually takes to get to ANBU level from Genin? Years… decades. Two months was all it took him to reach their level, and **they** approached **him**, he didn't even sign up to take the exam. I watched him kill himself the entire way through. I love you Sasuke, but the pain you caused Naruto, and caused **me** through him…" she didn't know how to finish that, and what's worse, everything that she had said… not a single word had been a lie, or even a half-truth.

Sakura glared angrily at the tears that leaked from her eyes and dropped to the floor.

"I know you never cared much for me Sasuke," she whispered, her voice dropping another notches, "but how could you do what you did to Naruto for the past years? Didn't it hurt? At **all**?" she asked desperately. "You're the brother he never had, the best friend no one else accepted him as, doesn't that mean **anything** to you?"

She looked up to the sound of clinking chains, finding that Sasuke had risen and was watching her intently.

"Sakura."

"Yes?" she asked, clearly surprised that he had said anything to her, let alone her name.

"I need a favor." He said firmly.

Her insides leapt. "Anything!" she cried happily.

"I need to go find Naruto."

Sakura's smiled wavered, and she prayed for him not to ask what she thought he was going to ask.

"I need you to let me out of here." He said determinedly.

Sakura's mouth fluttered for a few moments before she looked back at the floor. "I can't." she whispered. "I'm sorry Sasuke, but Naruto wanted you back home so much… I can't do that to him, even after he left."

"Sakura."

Her eyes flicked up to find him reaching out to her. **Him**. Sasuke Uchiha. **The **Sasuke Uchiha, reaching out for her. **Her**.

Instinctively, her hand lifted and slipped through the bars, brushing against his fingertips. A jolt of electricity flashed like white fire across her mind, and she slumped to the floor, the metals bars dissolving in front of her.

Sasuke stared at her limp form a moment longer before scanning the hallway to make sure no one had heard that. The bars that had been over the entrance to his cell were designed to dissolve when someone from the village touched the prisoner contained by the bars. The contact established an immediate connection as if the prisoner was out of the cell, and the bars would disappear, but of course Sakura wouldn't have known that.

He had to knock her out, just incase they thought she let him go on purpose.

The first chains that needed to go were the ones on his wrists, they had the strongest seals against chakra on them, after that, it would be too easy to break the others. They were like paper trying to hold back a monsoon, he was too strong.

His eyes flicked around the darkened floor, looking for anything to use on the lock. It was a manual lock, because anything that touched it that had chakra would be immediately captured by duplicate handcuffs that would bind their chakra.

His eyes locked on a piece of broken metal on the floor about three feet from him, it was sharp, about three inches long, and only a few fractions of an inch thick at the thickest part, it would be perfect.

Sasuke got down on his knees and reached out, swearing when he barely breached half the distance between him and the shard. He tried his foot next, but the results were even more pitiful. Sasuke bit his lip and braced his hands on the floor, leaning forward. The collar bit into his flesh as the chains were pulled taught against the far wall, and blood stained the floor beneath him as it fell from his skin, but he continued to pull, forcing himself to ignore the pain.

He was an inch from the metal, and blood streaked down his front. He bit his lip and stretched again, wincing when the blade on the inside of the collar sliced through a nerve.

_Damn it! I can't reach…_

Sasuke closed his eyes, and lunged forward with a single thought. _**Naruto**__!_

His teeth closed around the metal and he whipped back, jamming it in the keyhole on his wrist with his canines, the cuffs falling onto his lap with a small click. His hands shot up and undid the metal around his neck with a chakra release, his senses becoming full again as he was freed of both chakra-repressing bonds. His elbows and feet were just as simple, and fell away with the smallest touch of chakra.

He stood and walked out of the cell, healing the slashed skin on his neck as he slipped his sword onto his hip.

His eyes turned to Sakura once more.

"I'm not going to apologize." He murmured. "I need to find him." Sasuke whirled and dashed off without a second thought, calling on his Mangekyo Sharingan. The Amaterasu would easily burn through the barrier.

Later

"I'm so sorry." Sakura shook her head, her face hidden by her hands as she sat in front of Tsunade, Kakashi at one side and Sai at her other.

"It's not your fault, I should have told you that would release him." Tsunade rubbed her eyes, the blaring light making her hangover even worse, if possible. "I was hoping that if we held onto Sasuke, we would be able to bring Naruto back home, but I guess Naruto isn't meant to come home yet."

"I thought the cell was supposed to be able to hold demons!" Sakura protested, though it didn't do much, Sasuke was already gone.

Tsunade nodded. "It is able to hold demons, because who's going to touch a demon willingly? The seals on the cell are released when the person out the outside touches the prisoner, but they have to be from the village, making it very hard to actually break the seals. We've never actually held a demon there to test it, but with suppressing their chakra and binding them away from everyone in the village, there'd be no way to escape. I should have told you not to touch him."

"We were going to go out and look for Naruto again." Kakashi stepped forward.

"And drag him back by force if we need to." Sai murmured.

"No." Tsunade stood and closed the shades, grumbling as it did nothing to help her migraine. "It's too dangerous to go near him if he's that out of control. I'm calling off all searches for him today."

"You can't do that!" Sakura's face popped out of her hands, tear tracks staining her cheeks. "Naruto needs us, even if he doest know it!"

"He doesn't** want** us." Sai spoke up. "If he somehow lost control of his chakra, than he probably doesn't want to be near **anything** he cares about."

"We still can't just **leave** him out there!" Sakura argued, facing him with her fist to his face. "How do you know he didn't just go to try and find Sasuke now that he was stronger?"

"He would have told someone." Sai reasoned easily. Sakura lowered her fist, Sai was right. Naruto tried to act strong, but he always bragged about things like that.

"So we're just giving up?" Sakura snapped.

"No, we aren't giving up on him, and as for the searches, we're merely stopping them." Tsunade replied hardly.

Sakura nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes before turning for the door.

"I'm going home." She murmured over her shoulder.

Five Weeks Later

Sasuke skidded to a halt on the edge of the branch, looking around. He was positive he'd felt it, there was no way he'd mistake Naruto's chakra for anyone else's, it was too much like him, bright and bubbly, but still… there was something that bothered Sasuke about the feeling of the aura.

First, he'd been searching for weeks and hadn't come across it once, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue it was there, and second, though it **was** bright and bubbly, underneath, there was something… ominous lurking, and Sasuke was still trying to convince himself that it didn't match up to the chakra he'd felt on the burned hospital and apartment building.

There really wasn't a reason for him to keep looking for Naruto, in all rationalization. He'd wanted to see Naruto once more before he destroyed the village, but now that Naruto wasn't there anymore… well, it kind of killed his reason for postponing his mass-destruction, but for some reason, he couldn't find the want… or the will to stop looking for the idiot.

_There!_ He sped towards the familiar chakra flickering to his right. It was so close, he could taste it in the air.

He landed lightly on a branch a good hundred feet off the ground, the Sharingan scanning the ground.

And there he was. He was wearing ANBU armor and black clothing, a serious difference to his usual orange jumpsuit, a black cloak was draped over a nearby branch, and his blue forehead protector was gone, replaced by a black one that was covering most of his hair, leaving only a few golden locks hanging around his eyes. His hands were draped lightly in his pockets, and his stance was relaxed as he looked over a small, struggling fire.

Sasuke lowered his palms lightly onto the branch and swung himself down, just a few feet at a time. Finally, he landed soundlessly on the ground, rising to stare at Naruto's back. It was obvious the blonde had sensed him, though why he didn't turn to confront the raven, Sasuke had no idea.

"Oi, Dobe." He spoke up, the only other sound in the clearing coming from the crackling and popping fire at Naruto's feet. He didn't know why he wanted to talk to Naruto now, originally, just seeing him would have been fine, but now, it wasn't enough. Like Naruto was a drug, and seeing him was just a taste, Sasuke wanted more.

Naruto didn't move a single millimeter.

"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said louder, just incase the idiot had fallen asleep standing up (Sasuke wouldn't put it past him).

Nothing moved, and then Naruto laughed. Quiet, deep and sinister, it scared Sasuke almost as much as Gaara's laugh once had. Naruto straightened up, and very slowly, turned to face Sasuke.

And red eyes met black.

Sasuke's eyes went wide, and Naruto smirked, showing the dangerously sharp canines.

"No." Naruto said simply, his voice deeper than Sasuke had ever heard it, a growl lacing the edges.

Yes, I know this chapter was considerably shorter, but it seemed like a good place to leave you hanging. *malicious laughter*


	3. Misunderstandings

I don't own anything but the ideas.

Misunderstandings

And there he was. He was wearing ANBU armor and black clothing, a serious difference to his usual orange jumpsuit, a black cloak was draped over a nearby branch, and his blue forehead protector was gone, replaced by a black one that was covering most of his hair, leaving only a few golden locks hanging around his eyes. His hands were draped lightly in his pockets, and his stance was relaxed as he looked over a small, struggling fire.

Sasuke lowered his palms lightly onto the branch and swung himself down, just a few feet at a time. Finally, he landed soundlessly on the ground, rising to stare at Naruto's back. It was obvious the blonde had sensed him, though why he didn't turn to confront the raven, Sasuke had no idea.

"Oi, Dobe." He spoke up, the only other sound in the clearing coming from the crackling and popping fire at Naruto's feet. He didn't know why he wanted to talk to Naruto now, originally, just seeing him would have been fine, but now, it wasn't enough. Like Naruto was a drug, and seeing him was just a taste, Sasuke wanted more.

Naruto didn't move a single millimeter.

"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said louder, just incase the idiot had fallen asleep standing up (Sasuke wouldn't put it past him).

Nothing moved, and then Naruto laughed. Quiet, deep and sinister, it scared Sasuke almost as much as Gaara's laugh once had. Naruto straightened up, and very slowly, turned to face Sasuke.

And red eyes met black.

Sasuke's eyes went wide, and Naruto smirked, showing the dangerously sharp canines.

"No." Naruto said simply, his voice deeper than Sasuke had ever heard it, a growl lacing the edges.

The smirk grew more prominent, and Sasuke took a wary step back.

Naruto chuckled quietly. "Are you afraid?" he mocked.

Sasuke stiffened, and Naruto took a very deliberate step forward.

"I'm not afraid, Usuratonkachi." He said flatly, letting Naruto take another step forward.

"You never were a genius, no matter how much people believed you were." Naruto's smirk grew more sinister, and he raised a clawed hand, flexing his fingers and whipping them back to strike. "You **should **be afraid."

"Dobe!" Sasuke brought his hands up to protect himself.

"Are you deaf?" Naruto snapped, seeming seriously miffed. "I said 'no'."

Something hit him harder than he could register, and slammed him back into the tree a good fifteen feet behind him. His hands were forced up by his shoulders with strength Sasuke was positive Naruto didn't possess, and he felt the metal slid against his skin as his hands were pinned to the wood.

"At least **act** like a genius, if you can't pull the real thing off." Naruto whispered huskily in Sasuke's ear.

"…You're not Naruto." Sasuke said through his teeth, trying desperately to ignore the way his body temperature was shooting through the roof with Naruto's body pressed up against him.

"No." Naruto mused. "I'm not."

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, pulling on the kunai binding his arms to the tree behind him. His eyes went wide as he didn't even tear his clothes. The kunai had caught so much of each sleeve that he could barely move his wrists, and the metal was buried in the bark so far past the hilt that he could barely see the metal loop embedded in the wood.

"Not important." Naruto drew a clawed finger down Sasuke's jawbone.

Sasuke's growl was stifled by a gasp as Naruto dipped forward and drew his tongue along the length of Sasuke's neck.

"Dobe, what are you—"

"Hush." Naruto chuckled again, and slid his fingers inside Sasuke's collar.

Sasuke's mind kick-started with the electric jolt of Naruto's skin against his own and he started yanking against his bonds. Naruto's hands shot out of his clothing, and something that felt like an iron battering ram struck Sasuke in the stomach harder than he'd ever been hit.

He gasped in the pain and slumped forward as his knees buckled, his fighting ceasing.

Naruto's fisted hand pulled out of Sasuke's middle and a hand slid under his chin and gently forced his gaze up.

Naruto was staring at him like he expected Sasuke to do something, his red eyes and slit pupils pouring into Sasuke's soul through his eyes. Sasuke gritted his teeth and forced his knees to straighten himself up.

Naruto smirked and leaned forward again. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you, I only need to… plant the idea, and then watch it grow." He said finally.

"What?" Sasuke ground out through his labored breathing. He couldn't feel his middle he'd been hit so hard, and usually he could deal with wounds.

"But…" Naruto's breath was an inferno against his neck as his tongue traced patterns up Sasuke's skin. Sasuke forbid himself from groaning, but it was all so damn arousing!

Naruto's knee slid between Sasuke's open legs, pushing up against his manhood so lightly that Sasuke could barely feel the pressure through his clothes, arousing him even more.

"I need to test one more thing." Naruto stepped back, and for a second—just one second—Sasuke missed the contact. He cursed his breathing for not slowing.

Naruto smirked, his head cocked to the side as he walked backwards ten steps, his heels coming to rest at the edge of jagged rock.

"Behind me is a fifty foot drop, which isn't much compared to other hits Naruto has taken, but below that is a lake, the depth of which is well over three miles deep." Naruto told him, his arms draped loosely at his side.

Sasuke remained silent, waiting for him to continue. _Is that… the nine-tails? His eyes…_

"Right now, Naruto is asleep, and being his team mate for as long as you were, you must know how much of a heavy sleeper he is. I'm going to 'help' him stay asleep… he's been going a lot lately." Naruto smirked, on fang poking over his bottom lip. "I'm going to go now, but if you want, you have some time to pull him out." He finished, his smirk growing wider before it fell into a drowsy loll.

Red eyes bled to blue, and Naruto's pupils returned to normal. Naruto's claws retracted and his pointed ears shrank, the scars on his cheeks returning to their usual size. Sasuke watched as Naruto's eyes stayed locked with his, and then drifted closed, and the blonde swayed.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled out as Naruto swayed dangerously close to the edge, but allowed himself to relax as Naruto swung back like a pendulum. And out of nowhere, Naruto toppled backwards, disappearing over the cliff.

Sasuke threw himself forward, the kunai snapping him harshly back into the tree, his head cracking against the bark. He shook his head to clear the dizziness, his eyes widening as he heard the splash.

_No, Naruto isn't that heavy of a sleeper, he's going to wake up, he's going to come spluttering up like an idiot, yelling for whoever threw him in to come out. He always did. He has to…_

But there was no sound, no water movement, no yelling… nothing. The night air was deathly silent.

_Deathly._

Sasuke wrenched forward, thrashing against the kunai so hard that he tore through the skin on his wrist before his sleeves ripped free, and he lunged forward, bracing his feet at the edge of the cliff and launching himself into the water, rocketing into the black depths.

His Sharingan raked the blackness for any movement. There it was, five hundred feet below him, was something drifting slowly down. Sasuke shot downwards, ignoring the burning in his lungs the pressure from the water was causing.

His hand dove out and his fingers grasped something even the Sharingan couldn't see in the blackness. He pulled up, panicking when it came free before he recognized the forehead protector Naruto was wearing. He jammed it between his teeth in frustration and swiped out again, this time, his fingers closed around Naruto's shirt.

Sasuke wrapped his arms under the blonde's torso and swam upwards with all his might, drawing a sharp breath as he broke through the surface of the water.

Sasuke swam harder than he ever had for the shore, making sure he was keeping the blonde's head above water as he swam. He dragged them up on shore, laying Naruto down on his back before dropping the cloth in his teeth and choking the water out of his lungs.

"Idiot!" he barked at Naruto. "Why the hell didn't you wake up?"

Naruto didn't move, he was completely relaxed, his eyes closed peacefully, like he was dreaming.

"Naruto?" Sasuke leaned forward. _Is he still asleep?_

"Naruto." He shook the blonde's shoulder roughly, his blood running cold in his veins.

Naruto wasn't breathing.

"Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shoulder, shaking him again. He looked around quickly, before tipping Naruto's head back and pinching the blonde's nose. He took a deep breath, praying his body wouldn't act up like earlier, and pressed his mouth over the blonde's, blowing harshly into his lungs.

Naruto coughed violently, rolling over onto his side and spitting the water from his lungs.

Sasuke sat back, his breathing finally returning to the regular pace. He couldn't help but notice Naruto's back and incredibly well-defined arms, which had previously been hidden by that hideous orange jump suit, but now, the black ANBU uniform clung to his skin, the water making it hug his contours even tighter. And without his forehead protector holding back his hair in the obnoxious spikes, Sasuke was forced to admit to himself that the blonde looked cute with his hair in his eyes. Naruto pushed himself up onto all fours, covering his mouth with one hand as he coughed forcefully.

When he was finally done, his back stiffened, and the hairs on the back of his head rose before his eyes flicked to Sasuke.

Naruto laughed, a hysterical laugh, one used when someone was disgusted, before heaving himself to his feet and stalking off along the edge of the lake.

"Hey!" Sasuke barked, pushing himself to his feet.

"Shut up." Naruto whirled and jabbed his finger in Sasuke's direction, shaking his head slowly. "Just shut up." he turned again and continued walking, his hands fisted at his sides.

"Dobe!" Sasuke yelled, marching after Naruto.

"I said shut the fuck up!" Naruto bellowed over his shoulder, not slowing down, and walked straight up the side of the cliff.

"**Usuratonkachi**!" Sasuke yelled, and Naruto appeared out of nowhere, his fist smashing Sasuke across the face before he could blink. Sasuke flew back down the cliff, colliding with the ground below brutally.

"Three… and a half… **years**." Naruto snarled.

"What?" Sasuke forced himself up.

"…Three and a half fucking years you disappear… break Sakura's heart… and destroy our friendship by trying to kill me." Naruto's glare was menacing, and his teeth were snapped so tightly together they were going to shatter if any more pressure was put on them.

"Three and a half years, nothing, and then you show up, try and kill me **again**, and leave me for dead in the middles of the woods after telling me that you were going to destroy the village. Three and a half years, you are nonexistent to us, and then, the second I stop looking…" he gritted his teeth even tighter, "the exact second I let you go to live your own fucking life to do whatever you damn well please, I wake up, soaked to the bone, with my lungs filled with water, **and you standing over me**!" Naruto roared.

Sasuke forced himself to his feet, ignoring the sharp pang in his back where he'd hit the ground, his feet spreading into a fighting stance as Naruto started storming back down the cliff, but instead of attacking Sasuke, Naruto marched right passed the raven, yanked his forehead protector off of the ground and tied it around his head, jamming it down so far it almost covered his eyes, leaving only the same few golden locks around his eyes.

He turned back to go and get his supplies, but stopped when he saw Sasuke.

"Whatever." He whirled, slipping his hands into his pockets as he walked, deciding that it wasn't worth it to have to walk by Sasuke again to get them.

"Dobe!" Sasuke growled.

"I'm not going to chase you Sasuke," Naruto said suddenly, "and I **cant** protect the village now, I'll end up destroying it by accident, so it's wide open, go blow it back to the stone age if you want. I'm not in it, so you can go kill everyone if you want." He laughed darkly. "Not that it would have made a difference if I **was** still living there, my life never meant much to you before, why should it now?"

"Are you sick?" Sasuke barked, taking a step forward. "You're acting like—"

"Yeah, I am sick." Naruto slowed to a stop, turning to look out over the lake. "…Sick of life." He murmured.

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, when Naruto's chakra flared up, and in a flash, he was gone.

"_Not that it would have made a difference if I __**was**__ still living there, my life never meant much to you before, why should it now?"_

Sasuke gritted his teeth, the acid bubbling up inside his throat. Naruto had very right to think that; Sasuke had **given** him every reason to think that. He was right, Sasuke had tried to kill him. **Multiple times**.

"_Yeah, I am sick. Sick of life."_

Sasuke felt the growl crawl off the back of his tongue and leapt up into the air, landing back by Naruto's campsite. He picked the cloak off of the tree, testing its weight and warmth. It was a good cloak, good enough for fighting and surviving in the winter, but that wasn't what he was looking for.

Sasuke smirked as he felt it, Naruto's chakra. The new chakra it had mixed with was so powerful that it left traces on everything that Naruto held for a long time or used an attack on. Sasuke reached for a stick by the dead fire, there was chakra on it too, he could use it to track Naruto.

_But for Naruto to just leave everything here while there's so many ninjas looking for him… he must really be confident that they wont find him, but I found him, so—_he paused, thinking over what had happened when he'd first seen Naruto that night, _no, the fox let me find him, by flickering his chakra like that… it was a sort of trap, and I walked right into it. _Sasuke growled and threw the cloak over his shoulder, scuffing out the fire with his foot and erasing all other traces of any chakra in the area.

He turned, looking back over the lake. _Damn it all Naruto, I __**am**__ going to find you, and I don't care how much you want to or try to hide. You've never been better than me, and that hasn't changed now._

XXX

It had been another three weeks, and Sasuke was becoming more infuriated by the second. There was **nothing**. Granted, he hadn't searched the entire fucking world, but how the hell could Naruto have gotten that far away in such a short amount of time, and leave literally no traces behind him? Sasuke had nothing to go off of, he was searching blindly for the first time since he'd gotten his full Sharingan.

He cursed everyone in Konoha for letting Naruto go, no matter how well Naruto had hidden himself, and he cursed the fourth Hokage for sealing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto, he cursed the Kyuubi for tainting Naruto's chakra and forcing him to leave, but more than that, he cursed himself for letting Naruto slip through his fingers by the lake. He'd been right there and Sasuke had literally watched as he disappeared into thin air.

He'd been praying that the Kyuubi would let him find Naruto again, but so far, there was nothing. It looked like he was on his own for however long it took to find the Usuratonkachi.

_What did the Kyuubi mean 'test me'? Test me for what? How well I could swim while pulling someone else out of the water? Maybe… __**I**__ need to send out something this time, like flickers of chakra._

Sasuke brushed over the area around him for anyone that would be looking for S-class ninja, and let his chakra swell up inside him when he felt nothing.

He let it wave out in pulses, like a heartbeat, throbbing in perfect time as it washed over the land.

He zeroed in on a point behind him, where something was pulsing back at him, but this time he couldn't feel any of Naruto's chakra in it, it was just the chakra that had been left by the fire.

_The Kyuubi._ Sasuke growled and launched himself toward the pulses, cursing himself again for walking right past it the first time.

Sasuke stopped far enough away from the source of the enormous power and walked the remaining distance, stepping warily into a clearing right as the pulsing halted.

His eyes flicked around, but there was nothing. Again. Sasuke was becoming really pissed off by this game of hide and seek.

"What's the matter Sasuke?"

Sasuke froze, not needing to turn around to see the mocking face behind him. He could picture the savage, animalistic scars, fangs and eyes as if he could actually see them.

"Was last time not enough? You just let him go." Naruto accused, his voice much deeper and coarser than the real Naruto's.

"I didn't see you trying to stop him, it seems you really wanted him to stay." Sasuke returned.

Naruto laughed, and Sasuke's ears traced his steps as he walked closer. "Well if you just let him go last time, why are you here now?"

"I didn't let him go." Sasuke snarled.

Naruto laughed again and Sasuke fought to keep a shiver from racing up his spine at the feel of Naruto's hot breath on the back of his neck.

"And apparently, I didn't get my message across as well as I'd thought last time." A clawed hand drew its way up Sasuke's arm. "But don't worry, there wont be any misunderstandings this time. You don't have any questions on your mind? I find it hard to believe that even the great Sasuke Uchiha"—it shocked Sasuke the way Naruto said his name with such revulsion—"figured out everything that I meant."

"What did you mean 'test'?" Sasuke demanded, trying to ignore the fingers drawing patterns on his collarbone.

Naruto laughed. "To see if you are as… **useful** as everyone seems to think you are, or, were." He corrected, leaning forward to brush his lips over Sasuke's skin.

"Why try and drown Naruto?"

This time, Naruto didn't laugh, in fact, he pulled back in disgust. "I live and die when this body does, if you thought I was just going to drown myself, you are truly an idiot, as Naruto seems to think as of late. No, that was to see why you followed him in the first place. I have some freedom in this body, and ending up trapped like Shukaku is not an option right now, I was going to have to find someone else if you just wanted my powers."

"Find someone else? For what?" Sasuke demanded.

"That isn't important right now. But I had to see if the youngest Uchiha even had a heart anymore. It wouldn't do any good to hurt Naruto more, would it?"

"That's not everything." Sasuke accused, his neck muscles going ridged as a clawed finger slid across his throat. He had to trust Naruto to let him live now; he was in no position to escape with the hangman's noose around his neck.

Naruto chuckled. "Finally, you're getting the hang of acting like a genius. It was too see your… will. You must have had one to search for the kit as long as you did, but you **have** tried to kill him before. He'd be dead if it weren't for me, I couldn't have that happening again, now could I?"

"You obviously wanted Naruto to…" Sasuke paused, stifling a groan, "stay last time, why did you let him leave?"

"Why did **you** let him leave?" Naruto asked in return, his grip tightening almost painfully on Sasuke's shoulder. "Why chase after him, and then just let him go? Are you giving him a chance to play the one hiding like a mouse in the relationship you have? Previously, he was the one chasing you for weeks on end."

"I didn't—" Sasuke snapped.

"Enough talking." Naruto growled dangerously, his hand closing around Sasuke's throat, just barely tight enough to make breathing difficult. He leaned forward and drew a line of saliva up Sasuke's neck. "I need you, or I should say what you can give me, or Naruto, which ever you prefer."

"What are you—" Sasuke managed to say.

"Hush." Naruto whispered, spinning Sasuke roughly so he was staring into the red eyes of the demon. Naruto gripped his upper arm forcefully. "I said… enough talking." He whispered deliberately.

Sasuke might not have noticed before, but Naruto was as tall as him now. The blonde had shot up a good three inches to reach his height, and only over a course of a few months. When he'd fought Naruto last, the idiot hadn't been as tall as him.

"What did you do to Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, the even tanner skin sticking out more than it should have. There was something different about Naruto.

"Ah, you noticed that, did you?" Naruto smirked, leaning down to nip at Sasuke's jawbone playfully. "Naruto's human body couldn't handle my power, so I... **altered** him."

"What?" Sasuke snapped, his breath hitching as Naruto fisted the back of his hair and yanked his head back, exposing the tender skin on his neck.

"Yes, it's to keep his flesh from disintegrating while using my powers. The ears and… **a few other things** change more when he uses jutsu to accommodate with the heat of our chakra, but he's still the same idiot kit. You don't need to worry about me making him quieter, unfortunately I haven't figured out how to do that yet."

"You—" Sasuke growled.

Naruto roared and whipped around, hurling Sasuke backwards with the hand fisted in his hair. Sasuke smashed against a tree, staggering to keep himself upright. Naruto appeared above him and forced him back into the tree.

"I said. **No**. **Talking**." Naruto snarled, tearing open his bag and yanking out three kunai. He forced both of Sasuke's hand over his head, crossing them at the wrists and speared his sleeves to the tree with a single kunai, burying it so deep in the bark the metal was invisible, and Sasuke's shirt was again caught so tightly that he couldn't twist his wrists. Naruto used his hip and slammed Sasuke's waist back against the tree and stabbed a kunai in on either side of Sasuke's hips, pinning the cloth to the tree to keep him still.

Naruto reached forward and grabbed the hem of Sasuke's shirt, tearing a strip free and forcing it into Sasuke's mouth, tying it behind his neck and very effectively gagging the Uchiha. Sasuke watched almost alarm as Naruto slid his forehead protector off, revealing his messy golden hair, and folded the cloth until it was in a headband, like he used to wear it. He smirked at Sasuke before blindfolding him with the cloth.

"No talking." He whispered seductively, and ran his tongue along Sasuke's neck.

He pushed a knee between Sasuke's legs and brushed against his manhood lightly, sliding his clawed hands under Sasuke's shirt and grazing over the raven's pert nipples.

Sasuke hissed, forbidding himself from moving, feeling everything implied in Kyuubi's aura and motions. The fox had something to accomplish, and he wasn't stopping until he'd finished.

Naruto grabbed the hem of Sasuke's shirt and yanked it free, tying the cloth to the kunai and out of the way. Naruto pressed his body up against Sasuke's exposed torso, drawing his claws up the sensitive skin of Sasuke side as he nipped at Sasuke's neck with his fangs. Sasuke was unable to control the shiver that ran up his spine at Naruto's cold nails against the hot, responsive, skin covering his ribcage, a tremor rocking him against the tree.

Sasuke felt Naruto smirk against his neck before sliding his tongue down Sasuke's skin, a trail of glistening saliva tracing the way to his chest. Naruto paused before his tongue swept over Sasuke's right nipple.

Sasuke exhaled loudly, swallowing his breath at the last second. Naruto smiled wickedly against his chest and continued his merciless teasing of the Uchiha's taught skin.

Sasuke was desperately trying to stay silent, but his body had other ideas. Naruto traveled farther down and dipped his tongue into Sasuke's naval, and Sasuke's muscles rippled excitedly under Naruto's onslaught, begging for more.

Sasuke groaned around the gag as Naruto moved back up his torso, wishing that he'd done this before so he wouldn't overreact so much to everything, blaming his body's reactions on the fact that this was his first time being touched like this by someone else. Orochimaru had tried, but Sasuke had ended that before it could even begin. There was no way in hell he would have let that twisted, psycho, snake man touch him like this.

Sasuke arched as best as he could against the bark and the bonds, shaking his head in a halfhearted attempt to stop Naruto, but if he were being honest with himself—which he wasn't—he would have admitted that he liked this. But not just what Naruto's tongue was doing to his skin, but the fact that it was Naruto.

_No misunderstandings, huh? Don't worry, there isn't anymore._

Sasuke tried futilely to stifle a moan as Naruto's hands moved to work on his chest and arms and his mouth moved up, planting small butterfly kisses on Sasuke's neck and cheeks.

Naruto chuckled, and out of nowhere, lashed forward and sunk his fangs into Sasuke's skin, right on the junction of Sasuke's neck and shoulder.

Sasuke gasped and tried to wrench away, but the kunai made it nearly impossible, and Naruto's hand snapped up and held his head back against the tree, his other hand holding Sasuke's shoulder against the bark.

Sasuke forced his movements to still, sucking in a large breath as Naruto removed his fangs slowly from Sasuke's neck and began to lick the wound clean.

His caresses were different now, gentle, calming, soothing… soundlessly promising for the pain to end soon as he licked the blood away.

Soon, the pain that came with the bite began to fade, releasing the unnerving feeling of déjà vu from when Orochimaru had placed his cursed seal on him. Sasuke let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and relaxed against the tree.

"A little too much like Orochimaru?" Naruto laughed, tipping Sasuke's chin up and drawing his tongue along Sasuke's cheek. He pressed his knee further into Sasuke's open legs, making the Uchiha quiver blindly under his touches.

Sasuke growled, trying to grind into Naruto's leg to get the friction he was desperate for, and without even realizing what he was doing, turned his head to the side. Naruto dipped away at the last second, avoiding their lips touching.

Naruto laughed and took a step back. Sasuke bit into the gag in protest, straining against the kunai.

Naruto chuckled and stepped back up to Sasuke, deliberately ignoring Sasuke's tented pants as he touched a finger to Sasuke's lips. "That's saved for Naruto."

_What?_ Sasuke's brow furrowed under the blindfold.

"And speaking of which, it's nearly morning, Naruto will be waking up soon. Don't ravage him before he wakes up, give him time." Naruto leaned forward and licked the wound on Sasuke's neck once more before yanking the kunai out of the tree with a loud crack and stepping away. "You are marked as mine Uchiha, no one else's. If you ever go against that, I wont hesitate to kill you. I'm not as sentimental as Naruto. If this really means anything to you, then prove it. I'm not going to come out to protect Naruto anymore, that's up to you now."

Sasuke went limp against the tree, sliding the blindfold down at the 'thud' he heard in front of him. Naruto was lying on the ground, his arm tucked under his head as he **slept** peacefully.

Sasuke growled, his hand moving to his… **arousal**. He looked back down at Naruto and could honestly find no want to leave. Konoha wasn't going anywhere; he could go destroy it at anytime, so…

Sasuke hissed as he brushed over his erection. First—preferably before Naruto woke up—he needed to take care of that problem.

A River a Little Bit Away

Sasuke sat at the bottom of the ice-cold river, letting the chill sink into his bones before allowing himself the liberty of breathing. He didn't permit himself to touch his screaming arousal, forcing it to let itself go down with the water the temperature of dry ice before washing the rest of his body. He looked at his reflection on the waters surface in irritation, his finger lightly feeling the deep puncture wounds the damn Kyuubi had left on his neck. They were bruised, swollen, irritated, infected, very large, very visible, and very **deep**.

_Fucking…_

Sasuke winced through the pain as he washed the wound with the water, utterly pissed at the fact that he hadn't been able to heal it either. There was something about the wound or whatever jutsu the Kyuubi had used, but whatever it was, he couldn't heal it. The fang marks stayed bruised, swollen, irritated, infected, very large, very visible, and very **deep**, not to mention painful, much to his extreme annoyance.

Sasuke trudged out of the water, whipping up a quick wind with his chakra to dry himself, as he lacked other means of drying his dripping body. He shook his head to clear the unkempt hair that had been swept out of place with the wind out of his eyes, pulling his clothes back onto his body and tying his pants with the sash.

He walked back into the clearing Naruto was zonked out in and sat down heavily by the blonde's head, leaning back against the tree he'd been pinned to last night. He stared at the messy golden hair, set free when the Kyuubi had taken of his forehead protector, watching how the wind ruffled it and the sun seemed to gleam on it.

Sasuke—being preoccupied with his thoughts of last night—let his hand drift out and comb lightly through the sun-kissed locks, moving it out of Naruto's eyes. Naruto moaned, and Sasuke stiffened, but instead of waking up, Naruto rolled over and pressed his cheek into Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke sighed, biting his lip as he ran his thumb over the whiskered scars, regretting his decision to follow Naruto at the same time as he was thanking the gods he'd done it.

Last night, even though the Kyuubi was in Naruto's mind, it was Naruto's body touching him, Naruto's tongue on his skin, Naruto's hands—

_Stop talking._ Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut at the electricity that shot through his lower regions at the memories, forcing them away. _Bad thoughts, down. Down!_

He'd always tried to think asexually, especially since his first wet dream had… **incorporated** Naruto into it, and all because of that stupid little kiss on the first day of school. Yes, he'd been spitting his stomach out all over the desk, but underneath, he'd been flabbergasted and stupefied by how overpowering a simple kiss had been. He'd never kissed a girl before—not that girls hadn't tried—but he didn't need to kiss one to know that it would never be as amazingly overwhelming and… **phenomenal **asNaruto's kiss had been.

Sasuke moved farther down, running his finger over Naruto's bottom lip as he slept.

"_That's saved for Naruto."_

"_I need you, or I should say what you can give me, or Naruto." _

_What the hell did the Kyuubi mean? 'What I can __**give **__him'? Does he want me to kiss Naruto, and not when Kyuubi's in his mind?_ The thought was utterly alluring.

"_If this really means anything to you, then prove it. I'm not going to come out to protect Naruto anymore, that's up to you now."_

"_You're marked as mine, and if you ever go against that, I wont hesitate to kill you. I'm not as sentimental as Naruto."_

Sasuke's free hand trailed up to the bite on his neck. _Marked?_

Naruto moaned again as Sasuke's caresses halted during his thought process, and Sasuke jolted back to reality, smiling slightly as he went back to stroking Naruto's cheek. Sasuke eyed his lips again, and sighed, remembering his want for Naruto's body to kiss him last night. He would never touch Naruto like that if the blonde didn't want it, he'd used Naruto's trust enough already, but he longed for the touch again.

It might have been disgusting for Naruto, but that kiss on the first day of school had been fuelling Sasuke's wet dreams since he'd gone to bed that night. It'd never sickened him, or even shocked him that he was gay—he'd seen things a lot more fucked up than that during his travels, the most prominent one being Orochimaru—but the thing that did sicken him was the fact that he needed a girl to repopulate his clan. Damn, annoying, stupid… **pink haired** bimbos.

_Shit._ Sasuke fought not to swear out loud for fear of waking Naruto and ending the touches. _It's either Karin or Sakura, and while Karin's power is useful… no, I'm going with Sakura._ Sasuke scowled. _Who the hell has __**pink hair**__ anyway? But Karin's hair color is almost as bad. Shit, that means my children might have pink hair._

Sasuke looked back down at Naruto and his hand slid up to preen through Naruto's hair. It was a pretty color…

_Stop. Talking._ Sasuke watched Naruto gently, inwardly surprised at how the blonde was still asleep. Usually Naruto jolted awake with the slightest touch.

_Though, if the Kyuubi still uses his body even though he's asleep, it would be like he didn't sleep at all. His body would—__**is**__ still exhausted. _

Sasuke knew that Naruto wasn't a light sleeper, and he knew that Naruto was anything but still when he slept, but when Naruto groaned, got up on his elbows, and draped himself across Sasuke's lap to get more comfortable, Sasuke was—for lack of better description—stunned utterly speechless.

Naruto was lying across Sasuke's crossed legs, with one arm under his head and the other grasping Sasuke's shirt gently, and his forehead laid against Sasuke's stomach, just like a little boy… seeking comfort.

After quickly regaining his composure, Sasuke forced himself to breath or pass out, and was nothing less than overjoyed that Naruto still didn't wake up. His hand reached out and wove itself back into Naruto's hair, stroking the dark scars and leaving feather touches over Naruto's eyelids, trying to show the Naruto—even though he was asleep—that he wasn't going to use the blonde's trust for his own purposes ever again.


	4. Trust Me

I don't own anything.

Trust Me

_Naruto looked up at the sky, smiling widely at the glowing sun and the gentle breeze ruffling his hair._

"_Oi, Dobe, you're going to fall."_

_Naruto leaned back far enough to see what was behind him without turning around and smiled smugly at Sasuke._

"_I never fall anymore. Kyuubi's chakra gave me perfect chakra control, my feet are superglued to this branch." He gloated proudly._

_Sasuke sniffed and hopped down off the tree, landing lightly on the ground and walking the remaining few feet to reach the top of the hill the two were resting on._

_Naruto straightened up, watching Sasuke contently. Everything was perfect, how couldn't he be happy?_

_Sasuke had come back… Naruto had dragged him by his ears, but he had come back on his own decision in the end. _

_ANBU, who would have thought he'd make it to ANBU? Especially with the village so against him because of the Kyuubi. Sasuke was a Jounin, as he was forbidden from ranking higher than Jounin, but Tsunade was working on the council, and Naruto was pretty sure they were about to revoke that rule._

_Sasuke was undeniably the best ninja in the village, despite his betrayal against it those many years back and the fact that he was only a Jounin, but Naruto was without a doubt right behind him. Naruto had also shot up in the years that Sasuke had been gone, and was now as tall as his friend._

_Naruto smirked excitedly and climbed down the tree, knowing that jumping would make a tiny sound. Using Kyuubi's extra chakra—which he had mastered complete control over during the time he'd been living merged with the fox—he created the illusion so his chakra was still as far away as the branch he had been on was and crept silently up behind the raven._

"_Yah!" he shouted, diving for Sasuke._

_Sasuke reflexes had always been flawless, but Naruto had gotten close enough so that even though the raven jumped out of the way, Naruto caught his foot, tripping him up and sending them both sprawling to the ground._

"_Usuratonkachi! What was that for?" Sasuke barked, trying to kick his foot free of Naruto's hold._

_Naruto smiled and pulled Sasuke towards him by his ankle, dragging Sasuke under him. He straddled Sasuke's hips and leaned down, kissing the raven lightly on his forehead. Sasuke's annoyed face softened lightly, and he reached up and slid his hand around the back of the blonde's neck, pulling him down and pressing their lips together._

_Naruto exhaled sadly into the kiss before breaking free—ignoring Sasuke's possessive expression—and crawled backwards off Sasuke, lying down lightly on Sasuke's stomach. Naruto fisted the cloth of Sasuke's shirt gently, closing his eyes and nuzzling Sasuke's stomach._

"_I'm glad you're back." He whispered._

"_So I've heard." Sasuke said dryly. "Every day from you since I came back." _

_Naruto laughed and adjusted himself to get more comfortable, sighing blissfully as Sasuke combed through his hair with his fingers, as he often did ever since he had learned Naruto's secret._

_Naruto had two secrets, the deep dark ones that people were always talking about. One, Sasuke already knew and had accepted, the Kyuubi, but the other, Naruto planned to take to the grave. He would be in too much danger if anyone knew, even his friends, or lover._

Naruto sighed, nuzzling closer into Sasuke's stomach. Damn, this was one hell of a dream; he could **smell** Sasuke. It brought back painful memories, but Naruto was going to savor the feelings for as long as he could. **Christ**, he could practically **feel** Sasuke's shirt.

After a while, as much as he loved the dream, he knew it was going to be excruciating when he woke up.

_Hey, fuzz-ball, quit giving me these damn dreams already._

The just Kyuubi chuckled, a deep, amused laugh.

_What?_ Naruto snapped.

_**Sometimes, I doubt that you have anything in that thick head of yours, but it's times like these that prove it. You're as brainless as you look, kit.**_

_Why you— _Naruto wrenched his eyes open to give the fox the what-for, and saw… **white**. As in, cloth.

"Huh?" Naruto muttered, looking up.

His throat snapped shut and his breathing and heartbeat ground to a halt, he felt his skin run cold and his knees start to shake. He desperately wanted to blink, to go back to sleep, or more preferably, to **wake up**.

_No, no, __**no**__. He is not here, I left him there at the lake, he isn't here, he is not…_

Naruto opened one eye almost pleadingly, only to be met with the same white cloth.

_What the hell…?_

_**You fell asleep.**_

_Well then, you vile, thrice-digested__** hairball**__, what the __**flying fuck**__ am I doing __**LYING ON HIM**__?_

Naruto forced his panic from a boil to a low simmer, evaluating the situation. He was lying in Sasuke's lap, Sasuke Uchiha, who was presently asleep. It was dusk, who knows how many days he'd been there, and he was holding Sasuke's shirt like a little kid with a blanket.

_How, you overgrown orange dust bunny, did I get here, in my sleep, and Sasuke is letting me lie here without taking my head off or dragging me back to his little band of world-dominators?_ Naruto's eye twitched.

_**Don't ask me, I just live here.**_ Kyuubi laughed mockingly.

_YOU PUT ME HERE YOU STUPID PIECE OF BURNT FLUFF!_

Naruto bit back his snarl when Kyuubi didn't answer, too worried about waking Sasuke. This was bad, really, really bad. Sasuke was a really light sleeper, Naruto was afraid to twitch.

Naruto bit his lip and slowly uncurled his fingers one-by-one from Sasuke's shirt, lifting his hand away painfully slowly so as not to even stir up any wind currents, no matter how small. His eyes flicked up, locating a branch above him. Naruto reached his free hand up and pooled his chakra up into his palm, making sure to keep the chakra in his body immensely low to keep the levels of chakra around Sasuke the same.

Making sure to keep his body as still as stone, he let his chakra reach up like an arm and wrap around the tree branch. In an extremely time-consuming fashion, he began to retract the chakra, raising himself off of Sasuke's lap micron by micron.

Everything was looking good, he was a few inches off Sasuke, about eye level to the raven, and he dared to speed up his raising of himself, beginning to look hopeful when out of nowhere, the Kyuubi cut off his chakra, and the chakra arm holding him up disappeared into thin air, and Naruto fell heavily back into Sasuke's lap.

"Damn fox!" Naruto yelled before freezing, and looking up to find Sasuke's onyx eyes staring back into him.

Naruto rolled out of Sasuke's lap, and sprang up as far as he could into the tree branches above, securing his feet on a strong enough branch before launching himself through the trees, rocketing himself as far as he could.

"Dobe!"

Naruto looked back with a gasp at how close Sasuke sounded, finding him only twenty feet behind him, and forced all of his chakra into his feet as he launched himself forward from another branch, wincing as he heard it shatter behind him at the force.

Sasuke snarled and used Naruto's tactic, shooting forward until he was neck and neck with the blonde.

"Usuratonkachi!" he barked.

Naruto whirled and gasped out loud at seeing Sasuke so close to him, his next step on a branch faltering, and he slipped sideways, plummeting 200 feet to the ground. Sasuke dug his heels into the branch to stop and raced for the trunk, sprinting straight down the tree.

He skidded to a halt on the ground, reaching up to again play their old catch-the-falling-dobe game when Naruto dematerialized before his eyes, reappearing behind him in a fighting stance. Sasuke turned, spreading his feet apart in preparation for an attack.

"Why don't you just go the hell away?" Naruto roared.

After a considerable pause, Sasuke said, "I can't."

"Can't? Why?" Naruto mocked. "Did Akatsuki send you to bring me back? Maybe I'm loosing it, maybe I've already lost it!" he threw his arms up over his head. "Maybe I fizzed out of the real world when I was in the hospital and the Kyuubi has created this perfect little dream world—"

"Oi."

"—for me because he's always talking about what a stupid, brainless runt I am! Oh that would be—"

"Dobe."

"—the ultimate revenge! Yeah, to take over my body and go annihilate the town I wanted to leave to protect! Taking over bodies, fucking hell, it sounds like Orochimaru all over again!"

Sasuke winced, a retort crawling up his throat, when he was chopped off again. Naruto wasn't even talking to him anymore, he was just venting to himself.

"Maybe that did happen! The obnoxiously huge wad of orange dandruff is always trying to protect me mentally for god knows what reason! Maybe so he can torture me more without me going over the edge of insanity! He probably locked me up inside my own mind because Orochimaru took over the real Sasuke in the real world and he didn't want me to loose it—"

"Usuratonkachi!"

"—and our bodies are working collaboratively to destroy the world and Kyuubi doesn't want me becoming a raving lunatic! Akatsuki and their plan to take over the planet can go to hell, because when our bodies are done, there won't **be** a planet anymore!"

"Hey!"

"And you!" Naruto jabbed a finger accusingly at him. "You and you goddamn holier-than-thou personality should just get the hell out of my dream world! I'm going to berserk inside my mind! Damn it all Kyuubi!" Naruto roared at the sky.

_He can talk to the Kyuubi?_ Sasuke's brow furrowed as he watched Naruto work off his frustration.

"Is that him?"

Sasuke turned in a confused fashion to the new voice, looking straight into the masks of the entire ANBU clan, back from a recent mission, it looked like. Naruto had been so loud that Sasuke hadn't heard or even sensed them approaching.

"The hair and the whiskers, yeah that's him!" another yelled. "Fall out!"

The ANBU dispersed, surrounding Sasuke and Naruto, all of their attention focused on the Kyuubi carrier.

Naruto bit his lip and jumped into the trees, dodging the kunai and ropes that flew at him. Sasuke snarled and lunged forward, attacking the head ANBU with everything he had, it was always best to take a group of ninja down by their heads, then works toward the lackeys.

Sasuke slammed his palm into the ground and summoned his snakes, watching the shock play across the eyes of the ANBU in front of him.

He looked up in furry, watching Naruto just dodge the attacks, not wanting to hurt the people from the village.

"Dobe! Attack them!" he ordered, punching the head across the face and shattering his mask, using the snakes to hold him against the ground.

"I can't! I'll lose control!" Naruto yelled.

An ANBU leapt for him and slashed with their kunai, catching him deeply across the shoulder. Naruto cried out in panic as his chakra surged dangerously, and everything around him burst into flame. The ANBU jumped back, keeping a safe distance while Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto seemed to be fighting with himself.

"No! Stop it!" he pleaded, pounding on his head. Little by little, his chakra dispersed, leaving just the flaming trees around him. He bolted for the deeper woods the second his chakra was under control, but the ANBU were immediately attacking him again.

"Idiot! Don't leave your guard open like—" Sasuke yelled, attacking the next ANBU that ran at him.

"Ahh!"

Sasuke's head whipped up as a chakra rope wrapped around Naruto's ankle, and the wielder yanked on it harshly, sending Naruto crashing to the ground. The ANBU were on him in a fraction of a second, holding him down by his arms and legs, using all of their chakra to seal his. They bound his wrists together behind him with seals and tied his legs and ankles together, all of them running back to help despite the unstable heat radiating off Naruto.

"Tch!" Sasuke lunged for him as the rest of ANBU jumped in front of him, raising their swords in attack as they charged forward.

Sasuke growled, his lip pulling back to reveal his teeth as he attacked, slashing, jumping and stabbing to get to Naruto.

"No!" Sasuke yelled as the second head of the ANBU stepped up to Naruto and pressed to fingers to Naruto's forehead. In a bright flash of white, Naruto's eyes went wide, and then cloudy as he slumped to the ground.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, slitting the throat of the ANBU in front of him as he fought to get to his former teammate.

"Just hold him back until we get far enough away!" the second head ordered, throwing Naruto over his shoulder as half of the ANBU disappeared, relocating themselves somewhere deeper into the woods.

"Naruto!" Sasuke roared, slicing through the neck of another ANBU and wrapping his snakes dangerously tightly around another. He punched the remaining ANBU out and looked around frantically with the Sharingan for any chakra, snarling when there was nothing close enough for him to see.

_Konoha. They'll be headed there._ Sasuke thought furiously, leaping to the top of the nearest tree to find the direction of Konoha.

XXX

For the second time in the last two months or so, Sasuke found himself at the edge of Konoha territory, at midnight, waiting for the guard to drop their guard for a second so he could infiltrate the village. Geez, he felt like a pocket-thief, or a petty bank robber. The things one does for lo—

_No, no, __**NO**__! Do not even finish that thought! The things one does for __**former teammates**__. Nothing else._

Sasuke fell back to reality when he noticed that the guard wasn't paying attention and shot up the tree trunk, jumping from the top branch onto the wall and running along it as far as he could until he saw the next guard in the distance, where he jumped soundlessly to the ground, landing on the balls of his feet and racing off into the dark streets of Konoha.

Meanwhile

Shikamaru and Kiba, Kiba a new chunin and Shikamaru a new Jounin, thundered down the hallways, jumping over the ninjas who were supposed to be protecting the Hokage yelling for them to stop and barged right into her office, panting from sprinting so far through the practically black Konoha streets.

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU NINJAS AND YOUR NEED TO EITHER COME THROUGH THE WINDOW OR WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR WITHOUT KNOCKING?" Tsunade yelled.

"Is Naruto in here with you?" Kiba gasped around his labored breathing.

Silence.

"Naruto's been gone for months, that hasn't changed—" Shizune started for Tsunade.

"We felt him." Shikamaru countered. "His chakra is enormous, and the ANBU are all trashed just from an assassination mission, which none of them ever have trouble with. I'd know his chakra anywhere, even under that new chakra he started using before he left. I know he's here."

Tsunade sighed, scratching her forehead as she sat back in her chair. So the rumors abut Shikamaru being a genius were not even a millimeter off the mark. She'd been hoping to keep this quiet, but if only two of them knew… well, it was better than the whole village.

"Maybe he needs his friends." Shizune suggested, placing her folders down on the desk.

Tsunade nodded before rising and placing her hands heavily on her desk. "I have some more paperwork to take care of, and so does Shizune, but—"

"Hey!" Shizune barked. "That's your work—"

"—but if you two would go talk to him, maybe it would lift his spirits. He needs it." She sat back down and pulled out a small flask of something, taking a large gulp and ignoring the infuriated Shizune behind her. "Cell block 42, restriction cell 52. Area 64 is clear for inspection, but I still need to check on Area 122, now go. Oh, and keep this between yourselves, no one else is to know, for Naruto's safety. And… just, **don't touch him**, it'll release the bars." She covered her eyes in annoyance.

Kiba looked at Shikamaru before both of them bolted for the door, slamming it behind them and careening through the ninja working in the Hokage's tower.

"What did she mean 'for Naruto's safety'?" Kiba asked as they ran.

"She's trying to hide it from the council." Shikamaru explained, having worked it all out back in her office. "Didn't you see the state he left the hospital and his apartment building in? They'd order him dead without a second thought, and wouldn't look back."

They raced past the first cellblocks, blurted the password to the guards with out slowing down and tore through the barrier the second there was an opening, skidding to a stop at the last cell.

To say that Naruto was in as bad a situation as Sasuke had been would be a lie, not to mention the understatement of the century.

Naruto was chained to a chair bound to the right wall of the cell, and he was wrapped in about fifty feet of chains, leaving only his neck free for movement. The rest of his body was tied down by—it seemed—all of the chakra-suppressing chains in Konoha, and then some.

"Naruto!" Kiba yelled, grabbing the bars as Akamaru whined beside him, sensing the threatening aura leaking off of Naruto.

Naruto's head rose slowly, and he smiled sadly at Kiba and Shikamaru. "Hey." He murmured.

"You idiot!" Kiba barked. "Why the hell did you leave?"

Naruto looked back down at the ground.

"For the same reason he's locked up." Shikamaru supplied, slipping his hands into his pocket as he fit all the pieces together.

"Huh?" Kiba looked up at him.

"Naruto, I'm venturing a guess, but your chakra… is it…"

"It's not good." Naruto shook his head. "I nearly set the whole ANBU clan on fire today because I wasn't in enough control."

"Not… in control?" Kiba looked between the two confusedly. "But your chakra control only got good recently, like, a few months ago, right before you left. Did it just get bad again?"

"It shouldn't have." Naruto murmured. "It got good for a reason, and that reason is still with me. It's like a thorn with lemon juice on it in my side, but it's still here. I can't get rid of it."

Shikamaru's brow furrowed. He despised missing all of the information. That had to be one of the most troublesome things in the universe.

"Are they at least feeding you?" Kiba demanded.

"Not hungry." Naruto looked away.

"But did they at least—"

"They asked, I said I didn't want anything." Naruto cut him off gently.

Kiba and Shikamaru shared a glance at the new feeling in the air, the new presence, and Kiba straightened.

"We're going to go, but…" Kiba trailed off, unsure what anyone was supposed to say in a situation like that.

"Naruto, keep working on it." Shikamaru encouraged lazily. "The sooner you get control of your chakra, the sooner they let you out."

"Thanks, but that doesn't help much with my chakra sealed." Naruto sighed, staring blankly at the wall across from him.

Shikamaru stayed silent and Kiba lead the way to the exit with one last glance at Naruto, Naruto's head tipped back down to the floor, his hair hanging into his eyes.

Shikamaru read the air with Kiba, confirming what they had sensed earlier and knocked on the barrier to let the guards know they were ready to come out. Kiba whispered something to Akamaru before walking out with Shikamaru.

"Hey, Inuzuka, you've got to get your dog." One of the guards said impatiently.

Kiba turned back slowly, chuckling deliberately to himself before calling Akamaru forward just as a black blur vanished into the cell while the barrier was still open. Akamaru trudged forward, taking his time. The guards pulled their hands away from the wall the second he was out of the way to reinforce the barrier, clearly exasperated for having to wait so long.

"Sorry about that!" Kiba waved and hurried to catch up with Shikamaru, looking back once more when they were out of hearing range.

"Did you feel that?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru nodded. "Uchiha."

"He got in right?" Kiba verified.

Shikamaru nodded again. "While the guards were distracted with Akamaru."

"Good boy!" Kiba praised quietly, petting the head of the giant dog.

"…Should we go tell the Hokage that he's here?" Kiba asked after some time.

"No, the Uchiha is what Naruto needs right now… that is, if he doesn't act like the same bastard with an icicle up his ass as usual and screw it up." Shikamaru sighed in an aggravated fashion.

"Ugh, Hinata's going to kill me when I get back." Kiba's head rolled back.

"She wanted to come?"

"Yeah, we both felt Naruto, but I didn't want her to come."

"You know, she has the Byakugan and is perfectly capable of protecting herself." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but if she left with me, her father would flip his blessed lip." Kiba scratched his head sheepishly. "I was supposed to be 'practicing with Neji', he's covering for us."

"…How are you planning on breaking to her father that you have been secretly going out for six months anyway?" Shikamaru asked as a moment.

Kiba paused for a second, thinking. "…In a few years, when we elope and come back with a kid, after it's too late for them to split us up."

Shikamaru had to laugh at that, and looked up at the sky.

"Don't wait to long," he shook his head, humoring Kiba, "rumor has it that her father wants to engage her to someone from the branch family, if that's the case, then you don't have a lot of time."

"We have plenty of time." Kiba shrugged. "She can be engaged to whoever the hell her father wants her to be and still be seeing me, we just have to make a break for it before she actually gets **married** to the creep." He said the word with a shudder.

"And if **things** happen between them?" Shikamaru suggested, a smile tugging at his lips as he waited for Kiba's reaction.

Kiba went rigged. "Hinata's not like that, and like hell I'll be anywhere less than fifty feet from them when they're together."

"You're too protective." Shikamaru accused.

"She says that too." Kiba said with a laugh.

"Oh, there she is."

Kiba looked up to the figure jumping toward them over the rooftops. He held out a hand and Hinata grasped it the second she was close enough, holding it close to her chest in worry.

"D-Did you see him? Was he ok?" she breathed. She hadn't gotten over her stutter, but it wasn't thought to be because of nerves now. Tsunade had diagnosed her with a speech disorder a few months after Naruto left the village. She'd been tested because Kiba and Shino didn't think it was because she was nervous around Naruto anymore. How could she have been if Naruto was gone?

"He's fine." Kiba smiled sadly. "He didn't want us with him right now, but maybe tomorrow. The thing is, we were kind of forbidden to tell anyone about this… so you'd need to go to the Hokage on your own." She scratched his head again.

Hinata nodded, her face strong despite the quiver in her voice. "I m-miss him, I'll go see him t-tomorrow." She rubbed Akamaru's head like a therapeutic treatment to calm her down. he rubbed against her leg apologetically.

"Yeah, tomorrow." Kiba agreed half heartedly, putting his arm around her shoulder as they kept walking, both he and Shikamaru knowing full well that Naruto wouldn't still be in the cell tomorrow—or even for another hour if Sasuke had anything to say about it.

Meanwhile

Sasuke crept quietly through the hallway of cellblock 42, looking into each of the cells in turn, though he knew which one Naruto would be in. Eventually, he reached the last cell looking blankly through the bars.

Naruto looked… dead, like an empty shell. It wasn't right to cage up a boy with so much happiness and love for everyone, even the people that had hated him all his life because of the Kyuubi. His head was hanging forward, and his hands were bound behind his back, and his legs to the chair legs, forcing him into total submission, though it didn't really look like Naruto was fighting it at all.

"What do you want Uchiha?" Naruto sighed, asking just to get it over with, his lifeless eyes never leaving the floor.

Sasuke flinched. Naruto had **never** used his last name to address him, even through all the times he said he hated Sasuke during their youth.

"…Why didn't you fight them?" Sasuke demanded, making sure to keep his voice low enough so the guards wouldn't hear him.

The silence was almost unbearable, until Naruto finally spoke up. "Twelve people."

"What?" Sasuke stared critically at the blonde.

"…I put twelve people in the hospital that day, when I burned my building down, and I learned later that three of them were in critical condition. I would have killed them, **more** of them if Kyuubi hadn't held back the explosion, the fox is the only reason why there were no fatalities. I can't hurt anyone else, not because of the Kyuubi, of what they hated me for."

Naruto sighed. "I mastered control of my chakra, and then Kyuubi's when I started using it, but I haven't had anything under control since we merged."

"Since you **what**?" Sasuke's horror splayed across his face for once, trying to deny what Naruto had said.

Naruto smiled sadly. "I suppose it **would** suck for you. To get the Kyuubi's power back to Akatsuki, you have to deal with me. Sorry I come with the package now."

Sasuke snarled. "Idiot, I already told you that I wasn't going to bring you—"

"Then why are you here?" Naruto said harshly, his cold eyes meeting Sasuke's for the first time.

Sasuke stayed silent. He didn't have an answer for that, at least, not one that he would admit to himself. His heart was screaming a reason in his ears, and begging him to tell Naruto and to admit it to himself, but his mouth remained firmly closed. His heart was wrenching in ways it never had before, pleading for him to say anything to bring the old Naruto back. The loud, obnoxious, idiot who somehow… had become something even more than Sasuke's best friend.

Naruto's eyes drifted back to the floor, looking even emptier than before.

"Is it just to torture me?"

"What?" Sasuke looked at Naruto accusingly, starting to question his sanity.

Naruto smirked again. "You'll have to do better than that, just showing up doesn't hurt me nearly as much as what Kyuubi shows me in my dreams every night. I'm pretty immune to any other form of mental pain now. Waking up is more painful than dying, because the dreams go away, so I can deal with having you stand in front of me. Did you know that my Shadow Clone Jutsu isn't me anymore? It's a giant nine-tailed fox, three times my size, and Kyuubi's mind is in it. I guess it's good that he's out of my head for the time that I use the Shadow Clone, but he can be extremely dangerous if I tick him off, so I can't use it anymore until I get my chakra under control, which is looking like that'll never happen. I'm just glad that he didn't affect the Rasengan, not that I can really use that either without chakra."

"Idiot, you're hurting yourself more than you can comprehend right now—"

"Yeah, that's me, just the idiot—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke barked, not giving a damn if the guards heard him. Let them come, they would take the heat of his frustration.

"You don't get it! I would have dragged you back already if I was sent to get you, and I have more important goals than errands to run—" Shit, wrong thing to say.

"Ah yes, speaking of which, you're in Konoha now, why isn't it up in flames?" Naruto challenged darkly. "No one in Konoha is strong enough to stop you, the other village are too far away to get here in time, I'm chained here, so go ahead, burn it into the ground."

Sasuke scowled. "You're here, Dobe—"

"Fire doesn't hurt me anymore." Naruto said disgustedly, glaring at Sasuke. "And why should my being here make any difference?"

Sasuke glared back at Naruto a little longer before reaching his hand slowly through the bars. He had to breach the gap, because Naruto was unwilling to anymore. He had to reach out if he wanted anything, he had to be the one to give in.

Naruto's glare softened into pained confusion, just like when he was younger, looking between Sasuke's outstretched hand and his face.

"I'm not trying to torture you idiot, and I'm not here just to make you suicidal, which is where you look like you're headed. I don't want you hurt by any… **I** don't want to hurt you anymore."

Sasuke had never seen so much agony and indecision on the blonde's face, and for a moment, Sasuke was terrified that Naruto was going to reject him again, but slowly, Naruto leaned forward and touched his forehead to Sasuke's fingertips, leaning longingly into the touch, and the bars dissolved between them.

Sasuke walked forward and kneeled before Naruto, working on the chains with one hand while his other held Naruto's head into his chest, stroking the scars on his cheeks and leaving feather touches over Naruto's eyelids.

"When is it going to be my turn?" Naruto whispered into his chest.

"For what?" Sasuke asked, freeing Naruto's neck from the same collar with the blade on the inside that he had been put in.

"To save you." Naruto said, anguish lacing his voice.

Sasuke smirked down at the golden hair, somehow glowing like the sun even in the gloom of the cell, and dropped the collar to the ground, moving onto the next chains.

_You already have. I'm not in Konoha, but… with you… I'm home._

I am a crazy rabid squirrel and I want the next chapter!

TBC!

Read, rate and review!


	5. Darkest Secret

I don't own anything in Naruto, all credit to the creator!

Darkest Secret

Sasuke was swimming in the feeling of déjà vu again, running away from Konoha, but it was different this time, because in his hand, was another.

A hand belonging to someone Sasuke thought would never want to look at him again.

The hand of someone he once wanted dead.

The hand of someone he had tried to kill multiple times.

The hand of the Kyuubi carrier.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Sasuke raced forward, keeping his grip in Naruto so tight that he would die before letting go, and even then it would take some time to pry his fingers away.

He swore out loud, looking back as the Sharingan saw approaching chakra in the distance. A lot of chakra, consequently, belonging to a lot of ninjas, and, consequently, all after Naruto.

"Put this on." He ordered Naruto, pulling Naruto's ANBU mask out of his shirt, the one he had swiped from the guard 'watching' Naruto. Naruto nodded stiffly and pulled the mask on, taking his hand momentarily from Sasuke's to tie his forehead protector over his hair, making sure that none of the golden locks showed in the back so as to not give away his identity, though his chakra was already pretty distinguishable.

Sasuke took one more mask and two ANBU cloaks out of his pack and yanked the mask and cloak on, throwing the other cloak to Naruto, grabbing his hand again the second he was done.

"Mask your chakra, that's what they taught all of us in the ANBU to do at all times." Naruto told him, suppressing his as he did. Sasuke nodded and repeated the move.

"Down here." He led Naruto down to the ground, knowing that most of the ninja would travel using the trees, weaving through the tree trunks and down to a nearby river.

Sasuke grimaced up at the quickly forming black clouds on the horizon before crouching by the nearby waterfall.

"Get in there and wait until I get back." He ordered, making a move to jump back up into the trees until Naruto grabbed his ankle, nearly making him trip.

"Wait?" Naruto scoffed. "I don't fucking think so—"

"They're after you, so I have to be able to lead them off if they sense one of us by accident. I'll be back soon, just wait." He pried Naruto's hand away from his foot and jumped up to the first branch, watching Naruto until the blonde disappeared behind the waterfall.

Sasuke looked towards the chakra rapidly growing closer.

He pulled his sword out and released his chakra into the air, drawing the ninja toward him as he rocketed off into the trees, away from Naruto.

The thunder boomed overhead as the first raindrops began to splash on the ground, soaking Sasuke to the bone in seconds as the rain pummeled the ground.

Sasuke whirled to the first ninjas, slashing at them and forcing them back. It was a pain, but he was just going to try to knock them out. Naruto didn't want them killed, so they weren't going to die by his hands.

Sasuke summoned his snakes, sending them at the next ninjas, wrapping them and squeezing them until they finally stopped screaming and passed out from lack of oxygen.

Jutsu was firing at him from every direction, using all of his energy for the moment to dodge them and aim some of the ones going for him to other ninjas, smirking triumphantly when the cries from the trees signaling that they'd been hit.

As the ninja kept coming, he growled, growing impatient of the game, as Konoha seemed to have sent their worst ninja. Why? He had no idea, but they did. Forming the chidori in his palm, he slammed it into the ground, creating an explosion of chakra and water from the pouring rain that sent them all flying backwards as he made a break where their defenses were weakest.

After playing cat and mouse for a good half an hour, he finally managed to ditch the last ninja by knocking him out and started winding his way back to the waterfall through the torrential downpour.

Thunder rolled over his head, the deafening claps echoing far off into the distance as Sasuke ran.

He splashed through puddles to make his trail much harder to follow and wiped the rain out of his eyes to see clearly as he ran. The black clouds had long since made it almost too dark to see, but he had no trouble avoiding running into things by using his chakra to sense what was in front of him.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile as the waterfall became visible through the rain, and unconsciously sped up to reach it faster.

He burst through the wall of water, his eyes searching the darkness for Naruto. His brow furrowed when he didn't see any light from the fire he thought the blonde would have made, and though he knew he wouldn't be able to sense Naruto's chakra because he was masking it, he was starting to worry as to why he couldn't even feel Naruto's presence.

"Dobe?" he called out into the blackness, creating a spark of chakra in his hand for light.

His eyes raked the cave, but he found nothing, only the rocks and moss that was growing in it.

"Usuratonkachi?" he called louder, walking further into the cave to see if there was a passage or a hidden area around a corner, but it just cut off twenty feet into the cave. He ran his hand along the back wall, looking for something that would have hidden a passageway, like a rock or some sort of jutsu, but his hand just traced the wall.

"Naruto?" he yelled, whirling and scanning the cave once more before racing out of the cave, not taking the time to shield himself from the water battering down on him as he leapt through the waterfall, landing in the knee-deep river on the other side.

Thunder crashed overhead, and lightning lit up the sky like the sun would for a split second before everything was black again. Sasuke searched the surrounding area furiously before he took off in a random direction, not being able to start anywhere better as he couldn't sense or see Naruto's chakra, giving him no other leads.

"Naruto!" his yell was drowned out by the thunder that smashed in the skies, and the white light that flashed after it briefly blinded him. Sasuke snarled, scouring every tree for anywhere that Naruto might have gone.

He originally checked every place that Naruto would have hid before he left Konoha, behind rocks, using his Shadow Clones as distractions, the tops of trees, but he bit his lip viciously, accepting that Naruto wouldn't hide there anymore. He hadn't known Naruto for years, Naruto, however much of an idiot he was, would not be stupid enough to hide in places like that anymore.

"Naruto!" he yelled over the next deafening crash of thunder, looking back towards the direction of the waterfall when he felt a surge of chakra. Naruto's chakra. He flew towards it as fast as he could, thanking the heavens at the same time he was planning all the ways to mutilate Naruto for just running off like that.

Sasuke whipped around when he came to the place he had felt the chakra, waiting for the next pulse he could follow. Naruto was damn good at masking his chakra, and that could be good or bad considering the situation, but here it just made Sasuke want to beat him into a bloody pulp.

The thunder crashed again, and Naruto's chakra throbbed again, leading Sasuke just a little farther into the forest where he saw a small opening into a cave behind a pile of boulders. He stepped cautiously over to the rock, placing his hand on the cold stone as a guide as he ducked down and inched into the cave.

As he went deeper, taking care of his head on the low ceiling, a glow became noticeable at the back of the cave, and two enormous red eyes took form as he got close enough. A low, sinister growl grew louder until Sasuke stopped moving forward, where it stayed the same volume, a low rumble reverberating around the close walls of the cave.

The thunder cracked behind him, and another dangerous chakra surge flooded the cave the second the lighting lit up the cavern, and Sasuke's eyes went wide at what he saw.

The Kyuubi, three times larger than he was, somehow fitting in the cave and lying at the back, it's teeth revealed in a threatening snarl as it growled warningly up at Sasuke, but more shocking than that, was the huddled up thing sitting curled up next to it, buried in its fur.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, carefully creating a ball of light to see farther into the cave.

The Kyuubi growled warningly, wrapping its tails tighter around the huddled ball, which slowly looked up, revealing the tear-filled, sky blue eyes of Naruto Uzumaki.

His hair was drenched from the rain, though the heat in the cave the Kyuubi was creating was beginning to dry it, and his clothes clung to him like skin because of the rain. His bangs were matted down into his eyes, and his hands clutched at the sides of his head, the tear tracks on his cheeks shimmering in the light.

"Y-you…" Naruto stammered.

"What is it?" Sasuke crawled a little more towards him until Kyuubi barked a threat for him to stay back.

"Y-you s-said… my name." Naruto choked out. He recoiled suddenly at the next flash of thunder, curling back into a ball tighter than he'd been in before, his chakra surging unstably again. The Kyuubi's tail wrapped comfortingly around him, hiding him more from the outside.

Sasuke looked unsurely back to the mouth of the cave, watching the rain pounding the ground just outside of the shelter of the rocks. "You're… afraid of thunder?"

He heard Naruto swallow, and then whimper loudly at the next crash of thunder, but Kyuubi's rumbling and low barking quickly drowned it out.

Sasuke let the light he'd created go out, leaving both of his hands free to crawl forward into the blackness.

Kyuubi's growling was growing louder by the second, but Sasuke ignored it, feeling his way into the murky darkness. His fingertips touched the blazing fur of the Kyuubi, and he carefully edged over its tail, using his chakra to make sure he didn't step on it.

"Naruto?" he asked quietly, reaching out to find the blonde.

Naruto looked up, and his blue eyes briefly caught the light of the next flash of lighting before he shrank back into a ball, burying himself farther into the Kyuubi's stomach.

Sasuke winced at the sight. Naruto, the boy with no fear, sitting in a very vulnerable, very defenseless ball in front of him, quaking like a live time bomb in his fear. He **was** a time bomb, every time thunder shattered the dark skies, Naruto briefly lost control of his enormous and already unstable chakra, putting them all in immense danger. He had to try and calm him before Naruto's chakra literally exploded.

Sasuke maneuvered himself slowly until he had turned around, and sat down beside the blonde, letting the Kyuubi see that he wasn't going to harm him before putting his arm around the younger boy's shoulders.

Naruto yelped at the next crash of thunder and threw himself into Sasuke's chest, hiding his eyes in Sasuke's shirt as he fisted the cloth tight enough to tear it. Sasuke let his shock subside before placing his hands slowly around Naruto and holding him closer.

The Kyuubi's rumbling died down after a while, and his tails wrapped around Sasuke and Naruto, creating a safe a secluded place for them for the first time since they'd known each other.

There had been times on missions when they'd slept in the same room, and Sasuke often had trouble keeping his lower region's excitement to a minimum, but it was almost worth it to be sleeping in the same room as Naruto, especially when Kakashi and Sakura were somewhere else for god knows what reason.

"Is the Kyuubi… your Shadow Clone now?" Sasuke asked after a while, remembering what Naruto had said in the cell.

Naruto nodded, withdrawing slowly from Sasuke until the next crash of thunder sent him hurdling back into Sasuke's front, making Sasuke grunt from the force. The Kyuubi growled warningly, and Sasuke stilled to tell him that he wasn't going to hurt Naruto under any circumstances. No, he was never going to hurt the blonde idiot again.

Next Day

Sasuke woke up wrapped in something the approximate temperature of the sun, and very soft, like fur. He stretched, his hands wrapping instinctively around the thing huddled against his chest before he registered that there was **something huddled against his chest**.

_Karin._ The thought brought the unmistakable taste of detestation back into his mouth, and his lip pulled back into a snarl. She'd overstepped her boundaries this time, and she was dead.

His chakra welled up from his core, and he prepared to hurt her unlike anything she'd ever felt before, when a deafening roar in his ear halted his movements instantly and made the thing on his chest jolt. It was loud, it was too close, and the mind-boggling aura of danger saturating the air around it was unlike anything he'd felt in nearly forever. Only Itachi had given him this feeling.

"Jesus Christ Kyuubi!" the thing against him yelled, shoving away from him harshly. "Could you **be** any louder? I'm trying to fucking sleep!"

Sasuke untangled his eyelashes enough to pry his sleep-logged eyelids open, and found something the color of the sun in front of him. Hair.

_Naruto._ It wasn't Karin? Oh yeah, he'd left to find Naruto, and…

"_**Well, if you want the brat to attack you, fine, but don't come whining to me later."**_

Sasuke winced at the voice, willing himself not to grasp the sides of his head. It was deep and dark, and hammered his temples like what he assumed the Rasengan would feel like if he took it directly.

"Attack?" Naruto repeated, running his hand through his messy blonde hair, disheveled from sleep. "Brat? Who?"

The voice sighed in a clearly annoyed fashion. _**"Stupid, hopeless runt."**_

"Take that back you stupid orange dust ball!" Naruto barked, shooting into a standing position and promptly smashing his head on the low ceiling of the cave, crashing back to the ground.

The voice sighed again, and something moved behind Sasuke. He whirled around, finding the Kyuubi, three times his size, lying behind him. The fox rose and Sasuke nearly toppled over backwards as the thing he was leaning against was suddenly gone. The enormous mass of red fur strode over to the river and leaned its head down, lapping up the water with its long tongue.

"Oh. You."

Sasuke turned back to face Naruto, finding him almost perplexed, like something was dawning on him. It was as if Sasuke and Naruto had both forgotten about what happened last night, and seeing each other brought that memory back like a hot iron.

"Me." Sasuke looked away, trying to keep the heat in his own face to an absolute bare minimum. It wasn't working.

Their eyes froze together for what seemed like eons, and then Naruto's cheeks flared up like infernos and he ducked his head in a futile effort to hide the blush engulfing his cheeks. He crawled quickly out of the cave, Sasuke right behind him, eager to get out of the smothering, hot, blackness.

"Damn it." Naruto swore under his breath. "Damn it. Damn it. **Damn it**! Fucking… no one was supposed to know! Shit! Well, there goes that theory you damn fox, I'm screwed, you might as well take over me now and not bother waiting until I'm attacked during a thunder storm!" Naruto whirled back to the outrageously huge fox by the river, who only rumbled in an amused fashion in response, like he was laughing.

"Dobe—"

"Oh this is just fabulous! I don't believe this is actually happening! And just when my life couldn't get any worse—"

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke grabbed his shoulders roughly, not willing to listen to another of Naruto's rants. The last one had gotten Naruto captured like a lab rat. The Kyuubi growled warningly, its tails bristling but didn't make any move towards them.

"Stop it!" Sasuke barked, staring straight into Naruto's shocked eyes. "I'm not going to tell anyone, so shut up before you bring more ANBU down on our tails!"

The Kyuubi rumbled again at the reference, his tails swishing against the ground.

"You… aren't?" Naruto mumbled, clearly shocked.

Sasuke did a good impersonation of a fish before his rage swelled up enough to overpower the disbelief. "Idiot! Friends don't give weaknesses of friends away to enemies!"

Naruto's form went rigid, and he brushed the raven's hands off his shoulders. "Friends also don't abandon friends for three years and then come back acting like nothing happened, so I wasn't sure if we even **were** still friends."

Sasuke stiffened visibly and backed away from Naruto and knelt down by the river, dipping his hands into the ice water and splashing his face. He looked up to find the Kyuubi staring at him out of the corner of its vast, deep red eyes.

_**Are you going to let him go again this time?**_

Sasuke winced at the thundering voice that echoed throughout his mind. Somehow, though he couldn't see Naruto from his current position, he could feel that the Kyuubi was just talking to him in his mind.

The Kyuubi's throat rumbled again, like he was laughing. _**Well, it seems that you aren't as heartless as you pretend to be.**_

_What?_ Sasuke snapped, his eyes locking with the red ones next to him.

He could see the Kyuubi's laugher in its eyes. _**Chasing after the kit this many times? Comforting him last night? It takes some guts to approach him when he's out of control like that.**_

Sasuke's lip pulled back in a snarl. _The idiot doesn't scare me._

The Kyuubi laughed again. _**And that is why **_**you**_** are the idiot, I'm not entirely sure I should let you have the kit if you don't have fear, because fear proves that you can have compassion for another.**_

_Have him? What the hell are you—_

_**You are marked as mine Uchiha, but unlike the snake man's seal, my mark cannot be removed. It's as deep and permanent as the bite marks on your neck. And the kit needs you. He has no one now but me, and he's an idiot and doesn't realize how much pain he causes himself every time he tells himself that he hates you for what you did.**_

_He __**does**__ have others! The ones back in Konoha that he'd still be with if you hadn't made him burn half of the village down!_

The Kyuubi chuckled again and rose, vanishing in a puff of smoke as the Shadow Clone jutsu was released.

Sasuke growled and rose, sinking down against a tree to watch the forest, but after a while, the only thing that had moved was Naruto, who had gone over to the river to wash his face.

"I've said it before." Sasuke said tartly, his anger beginning to boil again.

"Huh?" Naruto looked back at him, liquid crystals dripping down his face and hanging from his hair, glinting like diamonds in the sunlight.

"I've said your name before." Sasuke snapped, pushing himself to his feet to glare at the blonde.

Naruto's gaze didn't break from his, but it grew cold at the mention of that. "Not since you left." He murmured, turning back to the river and cupping more water in his hands.

_Oh yeah, he hasn't heard me… when I said his name, he was either unconscious or it was the Kyuubi's mind._

"So you left Konoha because you didn't want to hurt anyone?" Sasuke crossed his arms at Naruto's nod. "Idiot, if you'd stayed, they would have helped you—"

"Bastard!" Naruto shot to his feet, his fist raised at Sasuke. "You don't get it! The fox's chakra isn't like what you deal with every day! It isn't about being able to call on it when I need it! Every second that I'm living, I'm not activating or pulling chakra from my core, I'm trying to suppress it! To keep it under control so I don't set the whole fucking world on fire! And quit calling me names!" he added loudly.

"Everyone still would've helped." Sasuke countered easily, used to Naruto's outbursts. It was sort of comforting, to see the old Naruto, and not the unhappy one that was like a stranger to him.

Naruto lowered his hand and knelt back by the river. "They would've **tried**." He corrected. "Other people can't control **your** chakra, can they? It all boils down to me, no matter how much anyone helps. Besides," he added quietly, "no one would have **wanted** to help me."

"Dobe, there are lots of people who…" Sasuke trailed off, unable to finish that sentence.

"Sure." Naruto scoffed.

Sasuke felt his lip pull back again in a snarl as he marched over to Naruto and crouched behind him. He reached out and grabbed Naruto's shoulders, ignoring Naruto's shocked gasp as he pulled the blonde back sharply into his chest.

He held him tightly, wrapping his arms around Naruto's chest and breathing in Naruto's delicious scent. It was mild, and soothing, like a warm summer day, not too strong and overpowering and not too weak and submissive. Naruto was perfect just the way he was.

"Sasu—!" Naruto tried to jerk away, but Sasuke only held him tighter.

"Idiot, you don't get it!" he forced the blonde around, staring into Naruto's shimmering blue topaz eyes. "I…"

"Sasuke… what are you—"

Sasuke growled and yanked Naruto forward, smashing their lips together. Sometimes the idiot could be so damn **dense**.

The kiss wasn't gentle, or chaste, but it certainly wasn't confident either. Sasuke pulled away quickly at Naruto's lack of motion, his blush flaring up again.

Finally, Naruto inhaled deeply, and then breathed, "Oh."

Sasuke snarled and shoved harshly away from Naruto. _**Oh**__? What the hell does __**that**__ mean? And why the fuck did I—_ Sasuke's didn't even have time to register what was happening through his furious haze before Naruto's foot swept out and knocked Sasuke's feet out from under him, sending him tumbling backwards. The raven hit the ground, but he didn't even have time to blink it before something clambered onto his chest and pinned his arms to his side.

"Say it again."

"What?" Sasuke looked up at his former teammate, finding his cheeks decorated by a delicate blush that made him irresistibly cute.

Naruto was biting his lip, his hands were clenched so tightly (and painfully on Sasuke's arm) that Sasuke could see every crease in the joints of Naruto's knuckles, and his sky blue eyes were hidden beneath his long golden bangs, making it hard for Sasuke to read what he was talking about, but somehow, Sasuke knew. He knew what Naruto wanted. What Naruto **needed**.

"Naruto." Sasuke whispered.

Naruto's reaction sent shivers up Sasuke's spine. The blonde's skin rippled and he leaned his forehead into Sasuke's neck, tipping his head sideways to nuzzle into Sasuke's cheek.

"Naruto." He murmured, turning to inhale the gentle scent. "Naruto. Naruto."

His hands were roaming the blonde's back the second Naruto's grip on him relaxed, tracing every contour, stroking Naruto's shoulders and running his hands up the blonde's sides.

How long had he dreamed of doing this? Of touching Naruto, of telling him how much he cared through his fingers, of kissing him? How long? Well before he'd left, that was for sure.

Sasuke's rhythmic whispering of Naruto's name was in sync with his kisses. His fingers stroked in time to the word, and each kiss came rhythmically after the whisper, and Sasuke was intoxicated by how enthralled Naruto was by the simple chanting of his name.

_Has it really been that long? That he's heard me say his name?_

"Naruto. Naruto. Naruto." He murmured, drawing his arms up Naruto's side and sliding his fingers under Naruto's shirt, caressing the taught skin underneath. He could feel Naruto's naval against his own in particular, where the heat of the Kyuubi was pooling contently.

Naruto sighed contently, sliding his hands up and entwining them in Sasuke's black hair. He moved closer into Sasuke's chest, pressing his knee into Sasuke's manhood. Sasuke froze momentarily before groaning throatily.

"Sasuke." Naruto moaned, planting kisses up his neck and jawbone. He crawled slowly forward, straddling Sasuke's lap. Sasuke groaned again at the pressure, pushing unconsciously forward into Naruto's strained pants.

"Sasuke?"

All he could do was groan in response, but it was enough to get the message across.

"Promise me you wont ever leave again." Naruto whimpered into his neck, tracing lines and swirls up Sasuke's skin with his tongue, leaving glistening trails of saliva across his flesh.

"I..." Sasuke faltered. **Damn it**! The idiot always had to find the **worst** times for **everything**! He couldn't promise that, he was going to leave, he was going to kill Konoha someday, and he couldn't betray Naruto like that again. If the Kyuubi was telling the truth, then all of Naruto's pain was because of him. He'd caused Naruto enough suffering, and enough was enough.

"Promise me." Naruto commanded, a clear hysteria lacing his voice. His arms around Sasuke's neck tightened to the point where it was almost painful and the previously calm chakra jolted and throbbed unstably in the air around them.

Damn it all. Uchiha's always kept their promises; Naruto knew that and was using it to his advantage beautifully.

Naruto whimpered as it became clear to him that Sasuke had no intention to commit to that vow, and the air started to heat up around them, Sasuke winced at the claws growing from Naruto's fingertips and slicing into his back, sliding into his skin as easily as a kunai would into water.

_Fuck, there goes that. Now I have to drag the Dobe along __**with me**__ when I destroy the damn village. _"Calm the hell down Dobe," he took a silent deep breath, "I promise."

He blamed the moment of weakness on the position. Naruto was very dangerous with the unstable inferno of chakra sealed in his gut, and was currently perched on his lap. One wrong thing said or done, and bye-bye manhood.

"…Really?" Naruto choked out weakly. It was nothing but painful, to see how hurt Naruto had become. It was almost scary to think that the Naruto Sasuke knew before was just a mask.

"I vow Usuratonkachi, I wont ever leave you again."

"Or abandon me."

Sasuke smirked into Naruto's shoulder, wrapping his arms tighter around Naruto. "Or abandon you. You have my word Dobe."

"Quit calling me names."

Sasuke chuckled and pushed Naruto back to stare into his pouting blue eyes.

"Or abandon you, **Naruto**." He said deliberately. He couldn't help but smile at the happiness shining though Naruto's eyes.

Naruto smiled back and leaned in quickly, pressing his lips against Sasuke's, who lay motionless in surprise on the ground at the gesture.

"Thank you." Naruto whispered. He groaned suddenly in pain, pulling his hands from Sasuke's shoulders to press sharply on his temples.

"What?" Sasuke asked quickly, his hands shooting to cup Naruto's cheeks. "Oi. Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Shut… the hell… up you damn… fox." Naruto ground out, after a moment, collapsing against Sasuke's shoulder as he sighed in relief.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke demanded harshly, gripping Naruto tightly against him. Screw niceness, he needed to know that Naruto was all right.

"Stupid orange dust ball and his horny opinions. For god's sake, it's only spring!"

"…Spring? What did it say?"

Naruto froze, shaking his head frantically in what Sasuke assumed to be embarrassment, his face hidden in Sasuke's shoulder

And then it clicked. Spring. Fox. Horny. Opinions… or more specifically… **needs**. The demon fox was in heat. And from the bump from Naruto's pants pressing into Sasuke's stomach, the Kyuubi's **opinions** were influencing Naruto's reactions and feelings.

The thought was almost funny.

The animalistic nature crept into Sasuke's mind like an invasive plant, planting it's roots and sprouting buds before Sasuke could bring out the weed whacker to hack them down so they didn't spread their ideas in his mind. It was too late. Visions of Naruto's tanned body naked beneath him streaked across his eyes and when he looked at Naruto, his eyes—without his permission, but not at all to his discontent—edited out Naruto's clothes from the picture, leaving Naruto naked and groaning before him, and **sitting on his lap** to boot.

Good **god** he was hard. Agonizingly hard. If Naruto had excited him before, his arousal levels were through the roof now.

"I can take care of that." He whispered huskily, leaning into Naruto.

"What?" Naruto squeaked in almost apprehension, pulling back sharply, but Sasuke gripped his arms tightly, keeping him from getting away.

"The Kyuubi's problem, and yours. I can take care of it if you want." He reached out and pressed his hand to Naruto's erection, drawing a shocked but not at all displeased cry from Naruto's lips.

"Sasuke." Naruto groaned, leaning forward into him, pulling on Sasuke's shirt in a pleading way. Begging for Sasuke to help him, to give him what he needed.

"Are you ok?" Sasuke asked to make sure, though he was positive that he would not be able to hold himself back even if Naruto said he wasn't. It was as if Naruto had suddenly become a god, and was just like a siren to Sasuke's eyes.

Naruto swallowed, gripping Sasuke tightly as he whispered, "Yes."

Sasuke needed no further prompting, and rolled the blonde back, laying him gently on the ground and grinding their arousals together. He tried to go slow, but it was no use.

How his best friend became this to him, he didn't have the faintest idea, but he wasn't regretting or wishing to take back anything. This was exactly how he wanted Naruto. As his lover, and possibly, his **love**.

Please rate/review! On a scale of one to ten, what did you think?

And I know I'm not the best for spelling or grammar -_-

but what do you think about the **story**?


	6. Depend on Me

I don't own anything but my ideas. No one can sue me! NYA! *sticks tongue out*

Depend On Me

_**It was so easy. Almost too easy, especially with the Uchiha brat around. I was expecting some resistance, but I guess his feelings for kit were already fairly strong.**_

_**I am a genius. And to boot, I am not locked up like that lumbering idiot Shukaku or the other demons to be used as power sources by the Akatsuki. Yes, I suppose we would work collaboratively if the occasion arose, namely, destroying those who dared lock us up in these prisons, but that possibility has yet to strike. Besides, the chakra-powered monkey who imprisoned me died while sealing me, so I suppose the occasion would be just destroying the humans who dared overtake my forest those many years ago.**_

_**My beloved kit, the challenged half-wit that he might be, is still my carrier, and therefore, I must do things through him.**_

_**Somehow, I managed to do it. I juggled all aspects and different angles to this situation, and this is the best one I have come up with.**_

_**The Uchiha, no matter that he is an ungrateful prick—even for a human, and that says something—his power is almost as astronomical as Naruto's (without my own). I must credit the blonde ape they call the fourth Hokage that he did have some incredible power, and luckily for the kit, he inherited them from his father.**_

_**But in any event, I believe that the Uchiha is best suited for what I need.**_

_**The reproduction urge is as hardwired into the male mind as it is into the female mind, believe it or not.**_

_**If I weren't stuck in this unbelievably weak, useless, pathetic human body, I wouldn't have hunted down a female demon fox, but as I am stuck in this obnoxious blonde human child's body, I looked to the next possibility.**_

_**Taking over the kit's mind while he's asleep, forcibly restraining the Uchiha, altering his body to be able to raise kits, and fucking his living brains out. That was my first plan, and obviously that wont work, and here's the biggest reason: he's male.**_

_**No, I already know what you're thinking, and it's not that. I do not need the obvious restated, because with my power, it would be quite easy to revise his male body and to create him a chakra womb, in less complicated terms for your incompetent human minds. But in the same way, that is **_**exactly**_** the problem.**_

_**If it was another demon male, or even a male demon jinchuuriki, it would be fine, but no, prodigy or not, he's human. And human males, no matter their power, cannot handle the stress of the altercations or the pregnancy on their own. For your human brains to understand: in a nutshell, the Uchiha would die before even two months of the pregnancy had passed.**_

_**So that option had gone to hell in a hand basket, much like the idea of my freedom with the Uchiha around to keep the kit in check and not loose control to his anger. **_

_**Any plan that incorporated the Uchiha as the 'mother' would not work. In the end, the Uchiha would die, which I don't much care about, but with him would go the last of the Uchiha blood and power. Now we couldn't have that, at least, not before I've taken his powers for the babies.**_

_**And that leaves the last alternative. And so I swallowed my pride, and seduced the Uchiha. Not an easy thing to do, because there were quite a few things to consider and incorporate into my planning. I still shudder at the fact that I let myself sink to this level.**_

_**One, the Uchiha had to fall for the kit. If I seduced him, he would never stay with the kit because I refuse to be with a human, their power levels be damned. The bottom line is that he's human. So I had to seduce the Uchiha, and make him fall for the **_**kit's**_** body and mind.**_

_**Two, I had to make the kit fall in love with the raven in return. That was actually the easiest thing to do. With kit already pining after the Uchiha like a lost puppy, all I had to do was give him a few graphic dreams, and the kit fell head over heels for him even before the Uchiha had come to find him. I shudder at the memory of creating the dreams as well. Human romance is nothing but vomit inducing.**_

_**Three, this was the trickiest part. I've been purposefully fucking up the kit's chakra for the past few months. And I need to explain a few things to have this make any sense at all.**_

_**It's a strong and very practical instinct for females and potential mothers to choose the strongest male to protect them and their kits, but Naruto didn't need protecting, not after we'd merged and his power was virtually unlimited, but if he couldn't even create a clone of himself anymore, I was planning for his need of someone to protect him. The kit getting himself captured was the perfect way for the Uchiha to prove to my blonde that he could effectively take care of him. Even I'm impressed that the Uchiha managed to get him out of Konoha without being detected. The pregnancy will be the perfect reason as to why his chakra wasn't working at all; I wont even have to defend myself on making it go out of whack.**_

_**So I jacked the kit's pheromones way up to off-the-scale levels and watched in pure amusement as the Uchiha completely lost control of his body and his needs.**_

_**Four, the kit's body. After seducing the Uchiha, I created what you humans would call a womb out of chakra. Yes, the core of life, and I constructed one out of my power in the kit's abdomen. Unfortunately for the kit, because of the obvious differences of fox, human, and demon pregnancies—namely, two months verses nine months and how much stress the babies cause on the mother—when the symptoms hit him, they'll hit him hard and fast. Headaches, weakness, fatigue, he could be down for days… another perfect way for the Uchiha to prove that he can protect the kit. A sort of mating ritual, if you will.**_

_**And so begins my procreation… through a human. Pathetic, but it's the best that can be done right now. When I break out of this prison, things will not be this way.**_

_**And so we continue on the journey, my kit is knocked up, and the new pups will have two of the strongest fathers alive and a demon 'uncle'. Poor kit, I'll have to make sure the Uchiha doesn't kill him when he finds out.**_

Four Weeks Later

You could say that about a billion things had changed between Naruto and Sasuke. And you would be completely correct. The most prominent one being their… **sleeping arrangements **now.

Sasuke inhaled deeply and rolled onto his side, instinctively feeling for the form beside him. Even in his sleepy daze, he could identify the person as Naruto from the inhumane heat radiating off his skin, as Naruto ran a constant 112 degrees these days. Needless to say, it made sex extremely hot.

Four weeks. And that was **after** the other months he'd spent hunting Naruto down. What happened to his organized plan? The one where he would see Naruto, preferably without Naruto seeing him, and then blow Konoha back to the Stone Age?

Oh well, the best he could do now was just take it in stride and run with it.

He'd ditched his Konoha team, ditched Orochimaru after killing him, ditched his newest team, basically ditched his plan to kill Konoha…

**Shit**, his newest team.

They were probably dead now. They were his teammates, but they were just nuisances that tagged along after him to Akatsuki; Madara had probably killed them all in his wrath of Sasuke leaving, and most likely **not **in a very pretty way.

Naruto moaned next to him and rolled over in his sleep, and his hand flopped over, slamming down onto Sasuke's chest, making him 'oomph' softly. Sasuke glared at the oblivious sleeping blonde, quickly giving up when it did nothing, as was to be expected.

Sasuke looked calmly at Naruto's angelic face. That was the only word close enough to describing this boy's features. God-like. Pure. Perfect. Flawless. Striking. They all worked, but none were strong enough to match the Kyuubi carrier's appearance correctly.

How had this all worked out? Naruto was his lover, and they'd been together in this… **arrangement** for about four weeks, one month. After visiting a small town to get more sufficient supplies, he and Naruto had a pretty adequate setup. Their bed consisted of two blankets, that you could either wrap two people in separately, or lay one out as a sheet and spread the other one over two people for when they slept together—which was becoming more frequent nowadays.

All food, weapons, and other necessities were sealed in scrolls, making travel with two blankets, one pack and several negligible scrolls, extremely light and very easy to pack up at short notice, because Naruto could always sense when people were approaching far before he could. It was something that came along with merging with the Kyuubi. The claws when he was angry or worried, the darker scars on his cheeks, the slit pupils—even if his eyes weren't red—when he was mad, and the hyper senses, which often proved to be tremendously useful.

The way Naruto worked and hid himself from everyone trying to hunt him down to kill him or capture him was fascinating. His chakra control was still crap for some reason, but he moved so quickly and left virtually no leads to follow him by. No one would be able to find him unless he wanted to be found.

Sasuke carefully adjusted himself, letting Naruto's arm slide off of his chest and onto the ground as he looked down at the sleeping seraph. The hair in his eyes, the whisker scars on his cheeks, his mouth closed gingerly, it was mesmerizing.

Sasuke sighed, heaved himself to his feet and pulled on his pants, walking over to the lake they were presently staying by and bending down. He cupped the water in his hands and splashed it over his face and shoulders, washing away the sweat from last night, when he and Naruto had made love again.

His head whipped around to the sudden sound of scrambling feet against the dry ground, and rushed to Naruto's side as the blonde emptied his stomach behind a tree.

"Did I taste that bad last night?" Sasuke asked lightly, trying to hide the worry in his voice by acting slightly miffed as he laid a hesitant hand on Naruto's back. Naruto managed to shoot him a pathetic and sickly death glare before whirling back to the bushes and throwing up the rest of what he had eaten the day before. This time, as Naruto wasn't watching, Sasuke permitted his worry to show momentarily across his face.

_What the hell is going on? Naruto's never been sick in his life, what the hell is the damn fox doing not healing him?_ He couldn't explain the furry that nearly overtook him at the thought of Naruto not being all right.

Naruto groaned and wiped his mouth, crawling limply over to the river and rinsing the acid taste from his mouth with the water, which he promptly spit by Sasuke's feet to get back at him for the jab. Sasuke glared, and Naruto glared right back before turning and sipping up the water noisily again.

"What's your problem anyway Dobe?" Sasuke asked, wincing at the unintended annoyance in his voice.

"Well I'm so sorry I'm such a bother to you." Naruto snapped, standing up quickly and turning for the bed. Correction: standing up **too** quickly and turning **too** quickly for the bed. He doubled over the next second and retched again, clutching his stomach in the sudden force.

Sasuke shot to his side to catch him when he stumbled and helped him sit on the ground.

"What's wrong with you? You never get sick." Sasuke all but snapped, as if it was Naruto's fault.

"Up yours no jutsu." Naruto ground out, his head lolling back and resting on Sasuke's shoulder as he stuck his middle finger limply into the air. His face was pale and slightly green, and he looked less-than-even-possibly-maybe-not-really ok.

"Aw, fuck." Naruto clutched at the sides of his head, pressing on his temples. "Quit talking so damn loud."

Sasuke stared skeptically at him. "You must be delusional, I didn't say anything." He said dryly.

"Not you, the damn fox! But while I'm on the subject, you're talking too loud too, my headache is killing me." Naruto moaned.

"Since when do you get headaches?" Sasuke demanded.

"Since now. And thanks for caring." Naruto snapped, wrenching out of Sasuke's arms and struggling over to the bed, where he fell onto the blanket on the ground, reached for the other blanket to cover himself, and gave up when it was too far away for him to reach it easily.

Sasuke winced at the sight. Naruto looked so… **frail**. What the flying fuck was going on? He got up and walked silently over to Naruto so as not to aggravate his obviously noise-sensitive headache anymore and draped the blanket over the blonde. Naruto mumbled something about thanks and pulled it over his head—Sasuke guessed—to shield his eyes from the bright morning light.

Sasuke got slowly onto his knees and laid down by Naruto, pulling the blonde into his chest, halting movement abruptly when Naruto hissed in pain.

"What?" he whispered.

"I'm sore." Naruto complained, uncovering his head to breathe and hiding his eyes in Sasuke's chest. "Watch my shoulders, and chest… they kind of hurt."

"From what?" Sasuke asked harshly, staring to—not that he would ever admit it—really worry about Naruto. "We didn't **do** anything yesterday."

"Last night, thanks to you and your damn horny Uchiha ass." Naruto grumbled.

"The fox always heals you after we do that, and how would it contribute to you vomiting and having headaches?"

When Naruto didn't answer, Sasuke smirked in triumph, unconsciously pulling Naruto closer and making the blonde hiss again in pain.

"Sorry." He muttered quickly.

…

"I'm hungry." Naruto said after a moment.

"…You just barely threw up everything in your stomach." Sasuke deadpanned. Some things about the idiot would never change.

"I'm still hungry." Naruto grumbled.

"Wait a minute so you wont throw up again—"

Naruto groaned and rolled out from under the covers and crawled over to the bag, rustling around in the sack for food. Sasuke sighed mentally and threw the blanket off of him to follow Naruto and mock him when he threw up again.

Naruto began throwing rejected things over his head as he discarded them, leaving them as they scattered all over the forest floor.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, dodging a flying package of instant ramen. Naruto didn't want ramen? Now **that** was weird.

"Looking for something to eat." Naruto answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, lining up rice, soy sauce, wasabi, died seaweed, and pickles by his side.

"What…?" Sasuke trailed off as Naruto grabbed a bowl, poured some of the uncooked rice into it, dumped nearly all of the soy sauce and wasabi on it, and proceeded to top it off with the pickles and seaweed. And as Sasuke watched in disgust, Naruto took the bowl and his chop sticks and wolfed the concoction down in one breath.

"No wonder you're sick!" Sasuke barked, grabbing away the wasabi as Naruto began to eat it straight out of the jar.

"But it tastes good!" Naruto whined, reaching for the jar, his fingers opening and closing the way a pleading baby's would.

"Don't eat that stuff straight, you'll just throw up again." Sasuke growled, shoving everything back into the food bag and moving it away from Naruto's grip. "It's nasty."

"But—"

"We can't waste food right now Dobe, you can't throw it up just because you're eating these stupid things!"

"I said stop calling me names!"

Sasuke ducked to dodge the chopsticks flying at his head, picking them up and putting them in the food bag as they bounced off a tree and rolled back to him.

"Since you can't cook, just wait a little bit and I'll make you something edible!" Sasuke barked, sealing the bag back inside of one of their scrolls and sticking it in his belt. "I'm going to bathe." He grumbled, stalking off to a bend in the river that was hidden behind the trees.

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms tightly, sticking his nose into the air and turning away from Sasuke childishly.

Later

Sasuke walked back into the clearing rubbing his hair dry with his shirt. He paused briefly as he walked into the clearing, watching Naruto holding a cup of instant ramen with one hand out over his other palm, where a small, spluttering flame was struggling to stay lit.

Sasuke draped his shirt over a branch in the sun and walked up behind Naruto, who was gritting his teeth in concentration.

"Damn it!" he spat when the small flame flickered once more and went out in a small puff of smoke. "I can't…" he closed and snapped open his fingers, the center of his palm sparking in a similar way that a lighter would as he tried to get the flame going again.

"Why don't you try a bigger fire?" Sasuke asked, the accusation clear in his voice.

"Not unless you want me to burn the forest down." Naruto huffed, holding the fire alit in his hand for a few seconds until if spluttered out again. "I have **no** chakra control for some stupid reason. Damn fox." He snarled.

Sasuke sighed and sat cross-legged beside Naruto. "So what? I'll just watch over you until you get in control again." It was a nice idea, to have the blonde leaning on him for once after all these years. When he was younger, he always acted like Naruto was such a bother, but the truth was that he liked taking care of the blonde. He loved the idea of dying in Naruto's arms that day with Haku, even though he desperately still wanted to kill his brother. But when Naruto saved him from Orochimaru's giant snake that day in the chunin exam, he'd felt weaker than he ever had before, and nearly killed himself to get better. Naruto was not supposed to protect him; it would be the other way around **only**.

"No way bastard! No way in hell I'll be depending on you! I've was doing fine on my own until you showed up!" the dying spark in Naruto's hand suddenly burst into a huge flame, forcing Sasuke to jump away from the dangerous heat.

"Damn it!" Naruto roared, and the fire died away, leaving Naruto, and the lump of smoking charcoal in has hand. Little bits of the label of the ramen were on fire as they floated to the ground around Naruto.

"You can't even cook yourself any food, you'll get yourself killed if you're on your own." Sasuke pointed out smugly, walking back over to Naruto, avoiding the charred and slowly burning spots of ground.

"I'll eat it cold!"

Sasuke groaned audibly, trying not to hit something. Damn stubborn **idiot**! "Why can't you just do this once? Give up! You can't do anything!"

"Giving up is not in my way of the ninja!"

"Neither was ditching your friends, but you did that too!"

"I didn't! I lived with Gaara for the first month after leaving!"

"Oh, and you depended on him?"

"No I didn't!" Naruto spat, standing up and getting in Sasuke's face, his hands clenched so tight they were white. "He wanted me to, but I didn't! And now that I think about it, I probably should have! If I was depending on him, I wouldn't be here right now and I wouldn't have to stand looking at your ugly face!"

"What happened to your desperate need for me not to leave you?"

"If **I **leave, it's not the same as you leaving, now is it bastard?"

"Idiot! It's **exactly **the same—"

"AAAAAHHH!" Naruto suddenly cried out, his hands flying to the sides of his head as his knees buckled under him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shot to the blonde, grabbing him inches before he hit the ground. "What's wrong? Hey!"

"Shut the fuck up you damn orange ball of lint!" Naruto roared, thrashing away from the unseen force inside his head. Tears were actually forming in his eyes from the intensity of the pain. Claws grew in from his nails with a sickening ripping sound, the scars on his cheeks darkened considerably, and his pupils constricted into slits, though the color of his eyes remained the deep brilliant blue.

Sasuke hissed and bit his lip as Naruto's claws slid into the skin of his arm, slicing through the flesh slowly at every minuscule movement. He fought not to shiver from the pain and accidentally cut himself more.

"Just… shut… up." Naruto pleaded, his canines slowly growing and contracting at the tip to form the deadly fangs. "I wont." He moaned. "Please… stop."

Sasuke snarled, forcing himself to stay completely motionless. He hated how the fox did this to Naruto. He despised it with a burning, incinerating passion, all the way from the bottom of his heart.

All at once, Naruto's claws shrank back along with his teeth, removing the talons from Sasuke's skin, and he collapsed against Sasuke's shoulder, shaking with silent, racking sobs.

"Naruto?" Sasuke ground out, healing himself as best he could at this awkward angle.

"Don't say anything." Naruto snapped, his body suddenly noticeably more ridged. "He doesn't want me to fight with you, so just don't… say… **anything**."

Sasuke sighed and lowered them slowly to the ground, laying Naruto on top of his chest as he looked up toward the morning sky. He used to hate mornings, they were just a start to a new day of pain, mental torture, and agonizing memories, but Naruto was practically the child of the sun himself, and somehow, it gave mornings a whole new meaning. Well, as long as Naruto was with Sasuke, if he wasn't, they were just something to dread and loathe.

"What was he doing?" Sasuke asked quietly, laying his hand gingerly on Naruto's back, holding him closer.

Naruto flinched, but remained silent.

"It's probably my fault anyway, so I think I have the right to know." Sasuke said firmly, forbidding his voice from raising even the tiniest bit above the level it was at. He had already hurt Naruto again, he didn't need to add salt to the wound if Naruto still had sensitivity to loud noises because of his headache.

"…Memories." Naruto said stiffly, obviously unwilling. "Of you. Leaving."

…

Oh.

Sasuke exhaled soundlessly and held Naruto closer, tipping his head up to kiss the top of Naruto's golden messy hair.

"They wont happen again." He whispered. "I'm not leaving you."

Naruto stayed silent.

"I promised." Sasuke smiled lightly, glad Naruto wasn't able to see him do it, because he couldn't keep his emotions in. "I'll drag you along to kill Konoha if that's what you want."

Sasuke chuckled at just how quickly Naruto fisted his shirt in horror. "Relax Dob—Naruto, I'm joking."

Naruto didn't let go of his shirt.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And I'd have to be off my rocker to leave **now** to do that, so you can let go and allow the blood circulate in your hand."

Slowly, Naruto's fingers unclenched from Sasuke's shirt, but they didn't move away from his chest.

The breeze ruffled their contrasting hair lightly, and the sun glinted off the water like diamonds, sending golden rays of sun dancing on the undersides of the leaves on the trees. Sasuke watched the flitting beams of sun contently, noticing how much their color looked like Naruto's hair.

_A beautiful golden. Just like him, always so bright._ _Much better than that sickening pink or that repugnant red._

He smiled and held Naruto closer.

Meanwhile

"You're sure?" the woman asked dumbly.

"Yes." The responder answered grimly.

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"You know this will cause a full-scale panic, right? You have to be 100 percent…" she trialed off, already knowing the answer.

"…Yes."

"…**Fuck**." The woman swore, her head dropping into her hands as she read over the report again.

15th November

Routine B rank mission. Escorting Lord Hotase to his daughter's home in the Hidden Cloud Village, we were attacked by a group of rouge ninja along the way, just outside of Konoha. None wore forehead protectors anywhere on their body, most likely to conceal their identity, but they had a purpose in attacking my group, because the subject escort was never targeted during the entire fight except an attempt once as a hostage to get us to agree to their terms, which we did not learn of. Their leader seemed very familiar, but many things had changed about his appearance. He had long black hair hanging in his face and wore a purple shirt with white and drapes, much like the ones from the Village of Sound. He had one snake eye with a sort of scaly skin around it, and one abnormally pale arm. His tongue was far longer than anything other than a demon's, and a strange summoning jutsu seal was drawn on his forearm. At first glance, I originally thought him to be Kabuto Yakushi, the traitor to Konoha under Orochimaru's control, but after observations during my fight, there is no doubt in my mind that that was Orochimaru himself. It was not Yakushi's voice, nor his personality in fighting or in killing. I, one of my chunin and the escort subject are the only ones to survive the fight, two chunin were killed.

Tsunade sighed loudly, looking over the records for a few previous missions.

"Yakushi absorbed one of Orochimaru's arms and eyes?"

"Yes." Shizune nodded, her hands folded tightly behind her back as she glance around nervously, set on edge just from the news alone.

"Well, if what the group scouting the area at the time said was true, then Orochimaru was still active inside of Sasuke, even after Sasuke had absorbed him."

"But Itachi Uchiha sealed him with the sword…" Shizune spluttered. "So… he should be—"

"Not necessarily. Orochimaru achieved body transfer, it's very possible that the sealing didn't completely work." Tsunade looked slowly over to the window, watching the children play on the streets.

"But it was just his arm and eye—" Shizune protested.

"That could've been all it took. Orochimaru was a man of many mysteries. He loved to brag about his abilities, but for safety's sake, he always kept a few secret jutsu to himself for if he ever needed them in an emergency."

There was one little boy in particular, with jet-black hair, pretending to throw a kunai at his other friend. Their mothers stood a few feet away, watching to make sure the three year olds didn't hurt themselves or each other… they were so young to be playing ninja already… it was somehow unnerving.

"…Do you think it's possible…?"

Tsunade sighed heavily, and sadly. "I think it's **very** likely that he could have somehow gotten free from the sword. After all, it was only a sealing sword, if he wasn't dead, there is a possibility that he could have broken free of its powers."

"But the legends tell us that it seals the victim in a dream-like state for all eternity, with no way to freedom!"

"They do." Tsunade nodded thoughtfully. "But they are just legends, and therefore, can be either wrong… or right." She admitted unwillingly. "And even if he didn't break free, Kabuto absorbed some of him. If Orochimaru used the same jutsu he used to stay alive inside of Sasuke, I think its more likely that he would have… almost…" she tried to find the best way to word her thoughts, "transferred his chakra and mind into Kabuto **through** the body parts, and sort of… absorbed him from the inside out."

Shizune nodded. "Do you think he's…?"

Tsunade picked up the report and read it over another time, making it a total of fourteen times reading the small paragraph.

"From what we have here, a report from a Jounin that has seen Orochimaru's fighting techniques, looks, and personality, it think it's proof."

She stood up from her chair and walked over to the large window, leaning her head against the cool glass. "Orochimaru has returned."

That boy… his skin was tanned, but his hair was just as dark as an Uchiha's, and he was playing with a little blonde boy who was pretending to hit him with a sword while their mothers reminded them to be careful. Tsunade knew that the boy wasn't an Uchiha, but there was something about… the feeling of children, **young** children more specifically, **very young**, that was giving her a very strange feeling.

She looked up at the sky after glancing at the blonde hair again. It wasn't nearly as bright or pretty as Naruto's, but the color made her wonder about the blonde all the same.

"Ah brat…" she sighed, reaching for the bottle of sake on her desk, "you had better be alright, you ungrateful little twerp."

It certainly was an **odd** feeling she was getting from those children… so young… but why was how little they were important? And unconsciously, without even noticing her own movements, her hand reached up and slid over her stomach lightly before dropping back to her side, and her mind pictured Naruto's blonde hair again and his sky blue eyes as she looked up at the clouds.

"Strange…" she murmured to herself, tipping the bottle back and taking another swig of the strong liquid. By later that day, she had completely forgotten the feeling, as she was—again—drunk enough to shame an alcoholic.

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	7. Prisoner

I don't own anything but my ideas. No one can sue me! NYA! *sticks tongue out*

Prisoner

Four Weeks Later

Naruto groaned and stretched, rolling calmly over to his right, where Sasuke was still sound asleep under the blanket. They were both still completely dressed, though they were sharing the same bed every night now. He thanked the gods they were in the south, where it didn't snow, because it was now mid December.

Naruto sighed sadly as his eyes traced up and down Sasuke's torso. Even in his sleep, the bastard still had a small crease in his brow.

_Tight ass._ Naruto scowled. _He'd be so much happier if he learned to just let the hell go of things and relaxed, start a new life or something sensible. He killed Itachi, which ended up being one of the biggest mistakes in his life, so what if he destroys Konoha and then finds out later that whatever he was pissed about at us wasn't even true?_

It was painfully obvious, even though Sasuke thought he couldn't see it.

_He has no intention of staying._

That one sentence was almost as painful as tearing his heart out barehanded. The thought alone pricked tears into the corners of his eyes that he furiously wiped away.

_Who cares? He'll leave and that'll be that. I don't care, it's not like Konoha is my home anymore or anything._ Naruto told himself firmly, biting his lip viciously as he sat up, remembering too late that he had to move slowly or—

Naruto's hand shot to his mouth as the all too familiar acid crawled up the back of his throat, and his stomach churned painfully. He clenched his muscles in an attempt to stop the acidic taste from continuing into his mouth, but it honestly wasn't any use.

His gut lurched again, and Naruto whipped his head to the side, throwing himself off of the blanket before emptying his stomach all over the previously clean ground.

A hand was immediately laid on his back and Sasuke's black hair moved into his view from the corner of his eye. He tried to look up to the pale, gorgeous face, but his body had other ideas, and his stomach flipped uneasily again.

"What the hell is that fox **doing**?" Sasuke barked, almost making Naruto laugh. He **would** have if laughed he hadn't been spewing his guts up all over the ground at that second. "You've been sick every morning for a week! What the hell is going on?"

_Well at least he's not taking it out on me anymore. _Naruto sat back shakily and took the water bottle Sasuke handed him, rinsing his mouth of the bile. It was funny, Sasuke tried so hard to hide it, but it was obvious he was scared. Well, maybe not scared. Nervous would be a better word. Naruto was honestly nervous too, he'd never been sick in his life, and now all of a sudden, for a whole week straight, he'd been sore, woozy, had cramps, headachy, and been sick. Every single day, with no breaks.

Nothing he ate seemed to have an issue with his stomach; it was just every morning that he threw up. When Naruto had been eating his wasabi and soy sauce mixture again, and when Sasuke tried to take it away from him, he actually attacked Sasuke—claws and all—because the craving had been so driving and controlling. It was the salt and the spice; he **needed **it for some reason.

"You alright?" Sasuke asked in a clipped tone.

Naruto nodded limply before setting the bottle down and lying back down on the bed. He smiled at the warmth pressing against his back as Sasuke laid down against him and gratefully held the top blankets closer as Sasuke covered them with it.

"What the hell's going on with you?"

"No idea." Naruto ground out, scowling at how his voice sounded like it was being dragged over sandpaper. "But I feel like crap, and don't talk so loud."

"Headache?"

Naruto nodded.

"Still?"

Nod.

"It's been a week!"

"Quiet!" Naruto winced at the sudden spike in volume.

They stayed motionless for a minute before Sasuke wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist and pulled him in closer, taking care to avoid Naruto's chest and shoulders, as the soreness often came along with the headaches. Naruto smiled and leaned his head back, nuzzling into Sasuke's neck.

Naruto sighed at the tenseness he could feel radiating off Sasuke's skin. He rolled over and stared Sasuke in the eye to tell him that he was being honest, even though he wasn't.

"I'm fine." He said quietly. _Yeah right._

Sasuke didn't relax.

Naruto groaned and his eyes widened as his stomach lurched again.

_Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't—_

He rolled off the blanket as fast as he could and retched, holding himself off the ground with his arms. He coughed harshly and forced himself up, toppling over right into Sasuke's arms.

"Naruto, let me talk to the fox." Sasuke ordered.

"No way bastard! Like hell I'm just going to let him out!" Naruto snapped, pulling away to sit across from him, crouching on the ground.

"He comes out all the time when you're asleep, what's the difference?" Sasuke barked, watching in confusion as Naruto's eyes went wide with horror, until it clicked.

_Oh __**shit**__._

"He what?" Naruto squeaked weakly.

"Just let me talk to him!"

"He comes out?" Naruto whimpered.

"**Naruto**!"

Naruto flinched away, and Sasuke immediately regretted yelling.

"Just, let me see what's going on. I've talked to him before when you were asleep, it was fine." _Actually, he almost __**raped**__ me when you were asleep._

Sasuke took Naruto's lack of movement as an ok, and the Sharingan slowly started spinning as he gazed into Naruto's eyes.

"By the way," Naruto murmured tiredly as Sasuke started to sink into his mind, "he won't answer me… so I don't know about you."

Sasuke nodded, and sucked himself into Naruto's mind, swirling and falling into the darkness.

It was black and wet, he was shin-deep in nearly boiling water, and he guessed the hot temperatures were due to Naruto's and the fox's merging. It gave the Kyuubi more access to the outside world, it was far more dangerous for everyone else this way, though it was probably much better for Naruto to not be fighting against this force every second of the day.

He couldn't see anything, even with the Sharingan rotating in his eyes, though he could feel the killing force radiating off of every micron in the air.

"_**It seems you have no **_**brain**_**, as well as no fear, brat."**_ Kyuubi said from in the distance. _**"I don't appreciate unwelcome visitors."**_ He growled dangerously.

Sasuke winced at the deep, overpowering voice, but would die before he ever showed his discomfort on his face.

"What is going on with Naruto?" he demanded.

The Kyuubi laughed, soft and sinister, and it sent shivers skittering up Sasuke's spin. He was vulnerable to the Kyuubi in here, because he couldn't harm Naruto by doing any jutsu, and the fox had almost broken out once. He was in danger just talking to it.

"_**Nothing you need to worry about… at least, not yet."**_

"Yet?" Sasuke repeated warily, sloshing closer to the voice through the water.

To enormous red eyes appeared out of the black, and two rows of huge, menacing teeth—probably almost as tall as he was—smiled wickedly down at him from behind the bars of the inhumanly big cage.

"_**Yet."**_ the Kyuubi repeated deliberately.

Sasuke had seen the Kyuubi fight before when the Chief Toad had fought against Shukaku, but transformation jutsu often altered size to better accommodate your chakra levels and other small issues like body size, so Sasuke had no idea of the Kyuubi's true size. From the eyes and the teeth, Sasuke estimated his true size to be between twelve and sixteen stories high. Pretty fucking big, even bigger than the Shukaku.

"When?" Sasuke snarled, becoming a little pissed off by the fox's little game.

The Kyuubi rumbled a laugh deep in its throat. _**"Soon." **_

"Soon?" Sasuke repeated in disbelief.

"_**Yes, now get the hell out of here before I fry your mind through the kit."**_

"Hey—!" Sasuke barked as the red eyed disappeared, and massive paws could be heard padding quietly to the back of the cage, but the Kyuubi didn't return or answer.

Sasuke growled and let himself slip back out of Naruto's mind, instantly missing the warmth from Naruto's mind that the Kyuubi created.

"…Well?" Naruto asked tiredly, coming out of his daze.

"He answered me, but he wouldn't tell me anything." Sasuke growled. "Fucking fox." He sword under his breath.

"I think he's mad at me." Naruto ran his hand through his hair before realizing that his hair was visible and reached into his bag and tied his hitai-ate over the distinguishable golden locks. Sasuke grimaced mentally; Naruto looked better without that damned thing covering all of his hair, as well as almost covering his sapphire eyes. "He ignores me when I've ticked off his royally-caged heiny."

"Whatever." Sasuke shook his head. "Let him throw a hissy fit for all I care. Well, wait here for a second, you've been eating that wasabi and soy sauce for days, I'm going to go catch some fish." Sasuke stood, looking around for the direction the river was in, as they hadn't set up camp by it this time.

"I'm not helpless you know." Naruto grumbled as Sasuke walked off, but he stayed on the ground nonetheless.

Sasuke strode slowly up to the edge of the lake, accumulating a little lightening on his finger as he did. He didn't feel like fishing right now, besides—he stuck his finger in the water, and a blue zap flashed across the surface of the water before seven fish floated to the surface—they would already be precooked.

Sasuke kicked off his shoes and stripped out of his pants to wade out into the water and pick the fish up, trudging back to the shore. He sat down on the bank to pull his pants and shoes back on, looking around warily as his neck prickled. There was something in the wind… and it was familiar… but what?

He stood, still watching the trees around him when it hit him.

_Orochimaru._

The fish fell from his hand to the ground, and he took off as fast as he could for Naruto. It was too far away. Damn it! Why the hell didn't they set up closer to the river? Damn it, damn it, damn it!

_No, no, no! that isn't possible! Aniki sealed him away. He's gone!_ Sasuke panicked, flying back the way he came. Unconsciously, his fingers moved to where the cursed seal had once been, shocked to find two deep puncture marks there instead, until he remembered how Itachi had removed the seal and then the Kyuubi had marked him, whatever the hell marking him meant.

He smashed into the clearing—straight through a tree—to find nothing but the remains of a small-scale war. Blood, torn clothing, body parts, char marks, and fire. Lots of fire.

_He lost control again…_ Sasuke snatched a piece of burning cloth up off the black ground and held it up to his face, the Sharingan reading as deep into the traces of chakra as it could.

"Naruto!" Sasuke whirled to the trees, the cloth clenched tightly in his hand.

It was a scrap of Naruto's ANBU shirt.

"NARUTO!"

Meanwhile

"Do you think he'll come?" a subordinate asked.

The pale man nodded, Orochimaru's snake-like voice seeping out of Kabuto's mouth.

"Yes, and very soon too." He purred. "Sasuke is quite bright, and with the Sharingan to trace the chakra, I doubt it will take him long at all."

Naruto screamed through the gag, thrashing against his captors' grips. He was powerless, bound and gagged by snakes, and a seal using demonic power keeping the Kyuubi completely dormant in his mind, he couldn't do anything. The seal had been painted over his other seal in blood, and was now drying uncomfortably on his skin to boot.

"And this time, I have something he wants." Orochimaru looked over at the blonde. "He wont be escaping this time. His body belongs to me."

Naruto tried gnawing at the snake in his mouth to get it to move so he could yell for Sasuke to run, but it thrust it's tail down his throat, choking him while the other snakes battered him with their tails and squeezed him harshly, bruises already beginning to form on his skin.

"You know you're very pretty…" Orochimaru grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up as tears leaked from his eyes at the snake tail down his throat.

"Orochimaru, sir?" the subordinate asked quietly, afraid to overstep his boundaries. Kabuto had tried, and been absorbed from the inside out. He would like to keep his life thank you very much.

"I can see why Sasuke would want you." Orochimaru smirked sinisterly, leaning forward as Naruto tried unsuccessfully to pull away.

"But I have all of these wonderful men, who would give themselves for me," Orochimaru gestured toward his men, who all nodded eagerly, hoping to get better marks with Orochimaru if they gave themselves to him, "but I'm quite honestly only interested in Sasuke's body…" the men seemed to droop again, "what **shall** we do with you?"

Naruto started to relax as Orochimaru drew away, but he nearly fainted at what the snake man said next.

"We'll just piss Sasuke off, and see how mad we can get him before forcing him to give in." Orochimaru turned to his next head, considering his options before smirking, and then snapped his fingers.

Naruto cried out as the snakes began ripping away his shirt with their fangs, and running all up and down his body in the most sexual and stimulating way, probing at his nipples and tongues flicking across his neck, sharp fangs scraping lightly over the skin of his upper arm and the noses of snakes dipping into his navel. His thrashing and yelling were futile, the snakes had no sympathy for him, and no intention of stopping until Orochimaru told them to.

"It's nothing personal really, but I need the Sharingan, and Sasuke is most prone to give in when he is mad and scared, and both will take place immediately when he sees you, if I'm correct." The pale man smiled widely, snake fangs a little bit visible poking out over his lip.

He snapped his fingers again, and Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head as a snake slithered its way across his stomach before sliding down into his pants and wrapping around his cock. His screams involuntarily slurred into wailing moans as the snake flexed its muscles over his length, driving him crazy in a sick was that made him wish he were dead. The snake moved again, slithering further down, dragging along his ass and beginning to push into him, and Naruto panicked. He bit down far too hard and right through the snake in his mouth, the two halves falling out of his mouth as he screamed.

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Meanwhile

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sasuke slammed his heels into the ground and rocketed to his left. He was flying he was running so fast. He'd left all their things at the camp and the fire Naruto started still burning in the trees.

None of that mattered.

Orochimaru had Naruto, and nothing else mattered.

_Wait for me Naruto!_ Sasuke snarled, forcing himself forward faster. _Don't do anything stupid!_

Meanwhile

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sakura's head whipped to the right and her eyes read the trees, but it was too far away.

"Didn't that sound like Naruto?" Sai asked casually.

"Do you think it's him Kakashi?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"It certainly sounded like it." Kiba agreed. "Loud, obnoxious, no regard for forest peace."

"He s-sounded scared, K-Kiba." Hinata said quietly.

"Shut up." he barked.

Shino remained silent.

Team Kakashi and Team Kurenai were returning from a combined mission of delivering two scrolls to the Hidden Village of Stone, and had gone this very unused way because of a cliff collapsing and the normal passageway back to Konoha being blocked off.

"We need to go see!" Sakura dashed off into the forest, forgetting every danger there was to her at the sound of her old friend's voice.

"Oh, Sakura." Sai said softly, watching her go.

"Sakura!" Kakashi yelled, groaning as no pink hair reappeared through the trees.

"Oh no." Kurenai murmured. "She can't go running off on her own like that! There are bands of rogue ninja everywhere in the forest."

"I'll go get her." Sai said before shooting off into the woods.

"Wait! We want to see Naruto too!" Kiba shouted after him.

"But K-Kiba—" Hinata reached out for him.

"Come on!" he grabbed her hand, making her blush furiously. "Let's go!" they shot off into the trees, Shino right beside them.

"Hey!" Kurenai yelled, and shared a glance with Kakashi before they both took off after their teams.

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	8. I Need To Depend On You

I don't own anything but my ideas.

I Need To Depend On You

"It's nothing personal really, but I need the Sharingan, and Sasuke is most prone to give in when he is mad and scared, and both will take place immediately when he sees you, if I'm correct." The pale man smiled widely, snake fangs a little bit visible poking out over his lip.

He snapped his fingers again, and Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head as a snake slithered its way across his stomach before sliding down into his pants and wrapping around his cock. His screams involuntarily slurred into wailing moans as the snake flexed its muscles over his length, driving him crazy in a sick was that made him wish he were dead. The snake moved again, slithering further down, dragging along his ass and beginning to push into him, and Naruto panicked. He bit down far too hard and right through the snake in his mouth, the two halves falling out of his mouth as he screamed.

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Meanwhile

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sasuke slammed his heels into the ground and rocketed to his left. He was flying he was running so fast. He'd left all their things at the camp and the fire Naruto started still burning in the trees.

None of that mattered.

Orochimaru had Naruto, and nothing else mattered.

_Wait for me Naruto!_ Sasuke snarled, forcing himself forward faster. _Don't do anything stupid!_

Meanwhile

"SASUKEEEEEE!"

Sakura's head whipped to the right and her eyes read the trees, but it was too far away.

"Didn't that sound like Naruto?" Sai asked casually.

"Do you think it's him Kakashi?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"It certainly sounded like it." Kiba agreed. "Loud, obnoxious, no regard for forest peace."

"He s-sounded scared, K-Kiba." Hinata said quietly.

"Shut up." he barked.

Shino remained silent.

Team Kakashi and Team Kurenai were returning from a combined mission of delivering two scrolls to the Hidden Village of Stone, and had gone this very unused way because of a cliff collapsing and the normal passageway back to Konoha being blocked off.

"We need to go see!" Sakura dashed off into the forest, forgetting every danger there was to her at the sound of her old friend's voice.

"Oh, Sakura." Sai said softly, watching her go.

"Sakura!" Kakashi yelled, groaning as no pink hair reappeared through the trees.

"Oh no." Kurenai murmured. "She can't go running off on her own like that! There are bands of rogue ninja everywhere in the forest."

"I'll go get her." Sai said before shooting off into the woods.

"Wait! We want to see Naruto too!" Kiba shouted after him.

"But K-Kiba—" Hinata reached out for him.

"Come on!" he grabbed her hand, making her blush furiously. "Let's go!" they shot off into the trees, Shino right beside them.

"Hey!" Kurenai yelled, and shared a glance with Kakashi before they both took off after their teams.

A Few Seconds Later

"Naruto!" Sasuke burst into the clearing, immediately slitting the throat of the ninja in front of him until he saw what was in front of him and skidded to a halt.

The rage bubbled up inside of him like a volcano, boiling and heating up at to the temperature of a lightening bolt and threatening to explode. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hand until he felt the blood dripping from the skin his nails had broken, forcing himself not to loose it. If he did, Naruto would probably take the full force of his fury. Orochimaru would throw him in the way, and it was still not figured out if he would be able to stop himself.

A pale hand gripped the back of Naruto's neck, but the main thing holding him in place was the horde of snakes. Tears streamed down Naruto's face, and his eyes were wide with horror but he was silent from the snakes gagging and nearly suffocating him. Sasuke felt the snarl crawling up the back of his throat.

He looked down in confusion at Naruto's stomach, where a seal drawn in blood was overlapping Naruto's already existing seal. The one that wasn't supposed to be visible. It was easy to figure out what was going on. The bastard had sealed off the Kyuubi, and Naruto was as helpless as a newborn baby.

"Sasuke, how wonderful to see you again."

Sasuke looked up sharply, not at all surprised to see Kabuto's body, with Orochimaru's long tongue snaking out and licking his lips. Kabuto had never been strong enough, it was bound to happen sometime after Sasuke left, because Orochimaru's body was already too weak.

"You found us quickly. You aren't going for any weapons?" he chuckled eagerly. "Then you already know that your battle is lost."

Sasuke's lip pulled back in a growl.

"Your body belongs to me Sasuke, and if you refuse, well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you what'll happen." His finger traced down the side of Naruto's face, making the blonde shiver as he stared at Sasuke.

Sasuke's brow furrowed. He didn't have any other options. He couldn't use anything with the Sharingan, Naruto was too close to Orochimaru, and Orochimaru would realize he was trying to use it and kill Naruto before he could do anything, it was the same with any other jutsu.

"After you let Naruto go."

Naruto screamed through the snakes, thrashing and writhing against his bonds until a ninja kicked him sharply in the gut, making Sasuke twitch and Naruto go limp.

"Not until we… **seal** it." Orochimaru smirked.

Sasuke flinched and unconsciously took a step back. Orochimaru's face went cold and he picked Naruto up by the collar of his shirt.

"Alright!" Sasuke said quickly. "Just let him the hell go!"

Orochimaru's smirk returned quickly, and he slammed Naruto into the hands of a few of his ninja, knocking them all to the ground with the force. Naruto managed to spit the snakes out again to yell.

"Sasuke! Get out of here! He's going to kill you!"

"Dobe!" Sasuke shot back harshly. "What do you think he's going to do to **you**? You can't do anything! Just get out of here before you get yourself killed by tripping or something!"

"Sasuk—" another snake forced itself into Naruto's mouth, and Sasuke winced at the expression of pain and terror on Naruto's face.

Sasuke braced himself, prepared for the impact when—

A snake shot up from the ground and slammed him back into the tree behind him. Nearly as thick as he was and fifteen times as long, it easily wound around him and soon had him completely immobile against the tree. What he wasn't expecting, was when the snake reared back and sunk its fangs into Sasuke's upper arm. Sasuke bit back a startled gasp as the snake began draining his chakra through his arm.

This was bad. **Really** bad. He couldn't do anything because of the kunai those monkeys had to Naruto's neck, after having recovered from him being slammed full force into them.

"Now, just relax." Orochimaru seemed to mock, gliding slowly forward as his neck extended and drifted toward Sasuke. Sasuke forced his head to remain motionless as Orochimaru drifted by him and licked his lips. The long tongue slithered out and licked across Sasuke's cheek before traveling down to the junction of his neck and shoulder.

_I shouldn't have yelled at Naruto…_ Sasuke thought weakly, his now very low chakra amounts taking away his energy with it.

Sasuke repressed a shiver and closed his eyes as Orochimaru moved closer to him, and the burning fangs sunk into his neck once again.

His mouth fell open with a small pained 'pop' and he exhaled loudly as the fire shot up his skin again. Kyuubi's bite had been nothing like this, it was just a puncture wound, it hadn't burned like acid or some type of venom.

"Sasuke!"

_Sakura? What the hell is she doing here? No, damn it, why can't they just get away?_

"Welcome home." Orochimaru murmured to Sasuke, going suddenly silent at the sound of tearing flesh.

"Don't…"

…_Naruto…?_ Sasuke opened his eyes, trying to see through the haze of the pain. Naruto was… glowing bright orange, the blood melting and dripping off of his seal. He spit the shredded parts of the snakes covered in teeth marks from his mouth.

"Naruto?" that was Kiba. What were they all doing here?

"…touch…" Naruto growled.

**Rrrrrip**. More screaming, and a few ninja fell limply to the ground. Sakura shrieked at the sight.

"What?" Orochimaru's near horror was almost overridden by his excitement.

"…**Sasuke**!" Naruto roared, bursting into flame and shooting forward, the burning snakes and ninja that were holding onto him falling off him as their skin turn black with the flames.

Sasuke couldn't see, his seal was burning more than it had with Orochimaru or Kyuubi's bite. Now it wasn't acid burning, his neck was on fire, and he was blinded by the pain.

Screaming, and tearing flesh, the sound of fire roaring, and then blood showered Sasuke, coating him in the crimson liquid. He cried out, unable to take any more pain when claws accidentally sunk into his chest, and then the snake holding him against the tree was torn away from him, its fangs shredding through the flesh in his arm, and he was splattered with more blood that wasn't his.

His hand moved slowly to his neck as he slumped to the ground, trying to put out the fire on his skin, but to his actual surprise, there was no fire. It was just pain. He could feel his skin convulsing where Orochimaru had bit him, and the Kyuubi's bite was at least a thousand degrees, the heat spreading to Orochimaru's bite.

"N-Naruto!"

_Hinata? Are they all here?_

Sasuke's eyes opened slowly to the blurry world around him, and found he was face to face with a chunk of someone's severed arm.

"Naruto…" he gasped, trying to turn to the source of the screaming, but he was too weak from the snake draining him of his energy and chakra.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, running toward him, already ready to heal him, the green energy swirling up her arms.

Naruto flew out of nowhere and slashed at her, his claws raking deep into the skin on her arm and stomach as she tried to shield herself.

She screamed and jumped back, the burning temperature of his claws leaving the skin smoking and black around the claw marks. She collapsed when she fell, using her energy to heal herself after she landed as Kakashi and Sai appeared in front of her.

Sasuke looked up as something landed above him, protecting his body with their own.

"Naru…to." He winced at the heat radiating off of Naruto as the blonde crouched over him, claws gouging into the ground as he snarled at his friends, daring any of them to try and come closer.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled. "Get a hold of yourself!" he tried to take a step forward, and Naruto roared and snarled at him, arching his back in a territorial way as he crouched over Sasuke, his fangs bared like they would be at an enemy.

"Naruto! Sasuke's hurt, he needs medical attention!" Sakura yelled, pushing herself back to her feet and cradling her arm, which still felt like it was on fire.

It was easy to see the shock on their faces when Naruto didn't move from his protective position, especially because ordinarily Naruto would have snapped back at hearing that one of his teammates was hurt.

"Naruto." Sasuke ground out, forcing himself up, and—ignoring the boiling heat on Naruto's skin—placed his hand on the blonde's cheek and pulled him down into a kiss.

Naruto's lips smoldered against his own, and Sasuke's eyes pricked at the burning the heat was causing, but he didn't let himself move. His lips seared and his hand was beginning to go numb from the sickening heat, but he didn't let himself pull away.

"…Sas…uke…"

Sasuke's eyes opened, meeting Naruto's eyes as they slowly bled back to the perfect blue and the heat died down, relieving his hand from setting on fire.

"Whoa." Kiba said quietly.

"Sasuke?" Sakura whimpered.

"Naruto?" Sasuke whispered. "Are you…?"

Everything was silent, and then Naruto gritted his teeth and leapt back, yanking away from Sasuke's hand.

"Na—ahh!" Sasuke shot into a sitting position before crying out again in the pain, and sinking back to the ground, clutching at his neck.

"Sasuke." Sakura whispered, running up behind him and holding him up against her chest so he could see Naruto.

"…Y…you promised." Naruto whimpered, shaking his head slowly as he stared into Sasuke's eyes.

"N-Naruto…" Hinata whispered, her hand still held tightly in Kiba's as the slowly approached.

"…Was it… just words? Uchiha pride." Naruto scoffed, his anger beginning to break through his fear. "I suppose killing your brother wiped out the last of whatever pride you had left, along with trying to kill your home. And now… after everything… all those promises… everything… you went and fucking **gave** yourself to him!"

"Naru—" Sasuke began weakly.

"To be **used** by him! You walked right into his arms, **willingly**! What the hell is wrong with you? Where would that leave me? If you went and died…I'd…!" he staggered back slowly.

"Na—"

"Please don't." Naruto cut him off again. "I'm begging you, just… please don't say anything." Naruto bit his lip, and a single tear traced down his cheek before a whirlwind of fire flared up around him, and then he was gone.

"Naruto." Sasuke shook his head desperately. _No, no, __**no**__, he can't… he can't just __**leave**__!_ "**Naruto**!"

"Sasuke, you need to stay still, you're hurt—"

Again. He'd let Naruto leave again. Naruto needed someone, and Sasuke had just… let him go. He still wasn't good enough. He still wasn't strong enough. He wasn't even strong enough… to protect one boy.

"**DAMN IT**!" Sasuke roared, his burnt palm fisting and slamming into the ground before he blacked out.

XXX

White.

Lots of white.

Where the **hell** did all of this white come from?

Sasuke rolled his head limply to the side and was finally able to conclude that he was in a hospital, and because he had recently been near Konoha ninjas, he could also conclude that he was in a Konoha hospital.

_Aw fuck._

He'd been here too many times after leaving. **Leaving**. It was supposed to **mean** that! **And not coming back**!

He sucked in a breath as his hand reached up, but he already knew he was going to find it there. Yep, the collar he'd been put in in the cell, and it had completely sealed off his chakra. He also had the separate cuffs, the ones not connected by chains between them on his wrists to make sure his chakra was kept sealed.

"Are you awake?" the nurse poked her head into his room.

"No." Sasuke snapped. He needed time to think, and he under no circumstances wanted to talk to** anyone** right now. **Especially** not—

"SASUKE!" Sakura shrieked, racing into his room, skidding up to his bed, flinging herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and then proceeding to blubber like a two year old into his shoulder. God hated him.

"You have visitors." The nurse laughed. "How are you feeling? You've been unconscious for a week. What ever happened out there must have been traumatic, because your injuries weren't that bad."

_Damn it, can't they just go the hell away?_

"Sasuke! Are ok?" Sakura practically screamed, soaking his shirt with her tears.

_I __**was**__ until you got here._

He grunted.

"Thank god!" she blubbered.

_That was __**not**__ a yes._

"You were so burned up by Naruto, your hand was black! I thought they were going to have to amputate it!"

"That's the worst of my problems right now Sakura." Sasuke grumbled.

"…What?" she sat back quickly.

"Orochimaru put his seal on me again, a burn isn't really important." Sasuke snapped. "He has control over me again and I don't know how Aniki released me from it. I'm a puppet again."

"But…" Sakura's eyes traced over his neck before reaching out and touching Kyuubi's fang marks, making him flinch, as they were still painful from the way they had been burning, "you mean this? Did he change the seal?" _He called his brother… Aniki._

"People don't change seals Sakura." He said slowly, trying to be patient. Anger would just drain more of his energy.

"But Sasuke…" she reached into her pocket and fished around a little before pulling out a small powder compact, flipped it open and handed it to him.

Sasuke took it weakly, tilting his head the necessary inch the see his neck. There was nothing. The only mark on his neck was the Kyuubi's mark, Orochimaru hadn't even left teeth marks in him, or even a scar.

_**You are marked as mine Uchiha, no one else's.**_

That was what the Kyuubi had said after biting him, and with that, Sasuke was slowly able to piece together what had happened.

The Kyuubi's mark had overpowered Orochimaru's cursed seal. He wasn't going to be a prisoner to Orochimaru again.

"And what about Orochimaru? Did he get away?" What was he asking for? Of course the snake man had—

"Actually, Naruto was… sort of…" Sakura stumbled over her words as she tried to find one that would fit the way Naruto had acted.

"The word you want is deranged." Kiba supplied, appearing in the doorway with Hinata by his side. She had her hands clenched up by her chest and was practically hiding behind Kiba. "First he tried to burn Orochimaru to a crisp, and then when Orochimaru tried to move away, Naruto tore him limb from limb before we could even blink and then incinerated everything that had once been Orochimaru." Kiba shivered. "Kind of weird to see Naruto doing something like that, seemed like more of your thing."

"Kiba!" Sakura shrieked in Sasuke's defense, but Sasuke wasn't even listening anymore.

Naruto had killed Orochimaru, and he wasn't sealed, but he was also tied down to a Konoha hospital bed and… Naruto was gone. Sasuke gritted his teeth, his burnt hand clenching until it hurt so much that it had gone numb.

"Was anyone able to see where he went?" Sasuke cut off whoever was speaking, not giving a damn what they were talking about or even **who** was talking. What was the point in wondering anyway? Exactly, there wasn't one.

"…No." Sakura whispered sadly. "Kakashi says that wasn't jutsu he used, it was the fox's chakra, so he couldn't trace it. And Naruto relocated too far away to even sense his chakra."

"Shit." Kiba grumbled, his hand reaching up and running through his brown, spiky hair. "We just find him, and then you have to go and chase him off again. Brilliant Uchiha, just splendid."

"KIBA!" Sakura shrieked, but in all honesty, Kiba was right.

"…_Y…you promised…was it… just words? After everything… all those promises… everything… you went and fucking __**gave**__ yourself to him! To be __**used**__ by him! You walked right into his arms, __**willingly**__! What the hell is wrong with you? Where would that leave me? If you went and died…I'd…!"_

Sasuke bit his lip, his eyes hiding behind his bangs as he battered his emotions down. He couldn't let himself feel anything, he needed to be numb, just for now, because he had to get out of here.

"Uchiha."

Four pairs of eyes looked up to the door, where Tsunade was standing as calmly as she could, though her hands were trembling slightly, and her smile was without a doubt forced. (AKA: it looked like she was trying to convince herself that killing him was **not** the best option here.)

"…I've been told you found Naruto?" she asked, her voice dangerously strained.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"…And that you… no longer know where his is, is that correct?" again, very unstable.

…

"I'm looking for an answer, Uchiha." Her smile was no longer existent. She was loosing it.

"…Yes, I found Naruto, and yes, I no longer know where he is." Sasuke said flatly, only restating what she'd said and nothing more.

Her eyebrow ticked, her forced smile back in place. "Do you have any idea where he **might** be?" she ground out through gritted teeth.

"…No." That wasn't a lie. He had absolutely no idea where Naruto would be now.

Her eyebrow ticked again, multiple times. "…I see. Well, in any event, your trial will be tomorrow, so I suggest you get as much rest as you can until then." She backed out of his room, looking like she was still trying to refrain herself from turning momentarily into a vampire and biting through his throat before slamming the door, and the only sound after that was her shoes as they clicked away down the hospital hallway.

"Well, um, we'll let you sleep then…" Kiba said, slowly coming back from his cowering over at the wall, his hand was still protectively in Hinata's, but when the nurse poked her head back in, they quickly dropped the hold.

"Do you want some sleep medication, or are you going to try on your own? The Hokage wants you to sleep."

"I'll try on my own." _Thank you very much; now get the hell out of here so I can __**think**__._

"Sasuke, I'll come back later to bring you some food." Sakura stepped over to his bed as two ANBU walked into the room, taking up their position as guards by the window, their eyes trained on him.

"Hn."

She bit her lip at his coldness, but he honestly didn't give a damn, and not nearly soon enough, she left the room with Kiba and Hinata.

Sasuke looked at his bonds through the reflection of the window. He had the cuffs and collar on, and there was a seal on the window and the back of the door to keep him from leaving.

He would have to take out the guards manually, and if he did it quick enough, when they weren't expecting it the most, then all he had to do was wait until someone opened the door from the outside and then he could make a break for it. But what about the chains? Tsunade would probably have the key… no, if there was any sort of emergency with his body, like if he went into a relapse (he snorted mentally) then someone in the hospital would need the keys to be able to get him free in time to help him.

It wouldn't be anyone that saw him regularly, that would be too risky, and the head of the hospital would be too obvious. It also wouldn't be any of the nurses, they were too low in the food chain, so to speak, and it had to be someone high enough up that the head trusted them. Well, when he got free of this room, he could worry about that later. But…

Sasuke looked inconspicuously at the cuffs on his wrists. They were manual locks, and had no jutsu on them… maybe if he found something small and strong enough, he could just pick the lock. It would have to be something like a syringe.

If he took out the ANBU, and then called in the nurse for those sleep medications, which would most likely need to be injected, he could easily take out the nurse and then pick the lock on the cuffs and the collar. After that, he could just blow through the wall and escape, he didn't even need to go through the hospital, and after that… well, he'd escaped this village three times already, twice under lock and key, it would be no problem getting out.

Meanwhile

Feet padded slowly across the floor, and wary eyes glanced between the scroll in front of them and the hallways around them. It was dangerous for the boy in his room to be here. No one could know that the boy was staying with him right this second.

Gaara glanced around again before turning sharply right and continuing his swift walk down his hallway. His hallway, no one else was allowed here, but that didn't stop Kankuro and Temari from the occasional 'stroll' down here where no one else dared go.

Gaara flicked his finger, and the sand holding the scroll out in front of him as he walked slid it open more, and he continued reading.

At first, it hadn't seemed possible, but after what Naruto had described to him, and because of the nine tail's strange chakra abilities, it was really beginning to sound plausible.

Gaara scanned the dark hallway again before ducking quickly into his room, rolling his eyes at the flash of blonde hair as Naruto raced to hide. It probably would have been invisible to anyone else, but he'd been expecting it.

"It's just me, idiot." Gaara grumbled, waving his hand and the sand from the floor rose up and barricaded the door, blocking off all sound travel between his room and the outside. He did the windows next, and then the walls too just incase, and the created the eyes of sand outside the door and the windows. It was seriously dangerous, Naruto being here, no one could know that he was hiding here. Many of the villagers were still a little scared of Gaara even though he'd had Shukaku removed from him long ago—the sand abilities were very powerful—but having two people who were both unstable in Suna would just freak them out, and worse then that would be the spreading rumors that might eventually lead unwanted enemies here.

.… Speaking of which, where the hell was he?

Gaara looked around, only to groan when he saw nothing. With a wave of his hand, the sand swirled up, and slid open the closet door, sending Naruto crashing to the ground from off of the top shelf.

"Ow." He mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"It's just me." Gaara repeated impatiently, moving to sit on his bed where Naruto quickly joined him, leaning over his shoulder to read from the scroll the sand was holding up.

"Cursed Ninjutsu, Senjutsu, and Kekkei genkais. Gaara, what's that going to do to help me?"

Gaara refrained from groaning again. "Things like this don't just happen on their own Naruto, it had to be some sort of jutsu or manipulation of chakra."

"Well, yeah, I know **that**." Naruto said, acting exasperated for some reason. "But if it's already happened, what's the point of researching how it may or may not have happened, if it already has?"

To say Gaara was surprised would be an understatement. Naruto's question actually had a point to it, but still, it was a dumb question.

"If it **has** happened—which I'm still not entirely convinced of—then we need to know any sort of risks that _may or may not take place with the jutsu_." He mimicked Naruto in a high-pitched, squeaky voice just to annoy him. Naruto riled up was funny, and being Hokage, laughs were often hard to come by.

"Hey!" Naruto snapped, shooting up out of the bed. "I had a reason to ask—"

"Shh." Gaara hushed him suddenly, holding up one finger. He'd covered his hallway in sand—completely covered, on the walls, ceiling, ground, and even left some grains of sand floating in the air—to feel when anyone was coming toward them, and some of the sand had been shifted.

"Gaara?" Temari knocked on the door. "Are you in there?"

"What? I can't hear anything." Naruto whispered.

"Of course **you** can't hear, idiot, I blocked off the door, now shut up so **I** can hear." Gaara hissed.

"Gaara? I thought I saw some fire off in the distance, is Naruto here?"

After a few minutes of Temari waiting for him to answer, Gaara could feel her walking away across the sand and he lowered the hand signaling for Naruto to stay silent.

"I though you couldn't use the sand anymore…" Naruto scratched his head.

"It's a type of Senjutsu," Gaara explained after another moment of listening, "I was already 'harmonized' with the sand because of the demon, so using it with my own chakra was fairly easy, and it just became easier over time."

"Oh."

"What? You can use fire right? From the nine tails?"

"Well, I **could**, but my chakra's been fucked up as of late, and I can't figure out why. I had perfect control—I'm serious!" he barked at Gaara's skeptical face. "I had perfect control, and then we merged and it went kaboom, literally! I destroyed my apartment building and part of the hospital!"

"I know, you've told me before." Gaara looked back at the book, skimming over the words, looking for one thing in particular.

"Well then—"

"Here," Gaara cut him off, pointing to a paragraph in the book.

"What?" Naruto walked over to him.

"It's a jutsu to artificially inseminate a living creature, this is most often used in couples where one of the two is infertile."

"…**What**?" Naruto put his pinky in his ear and twisted it back and forth.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "The fox…" he looked over the paragraph again, "created a chakra womb inside of you, and then knocked you up."

"…The Kyuubi knocked me up?" Naruto squeaked, horror flooding his face.

"It doesn't make sense though…" Gaara paused for a minute, "you've been merged with him for months now, why would he wait this long to do this?"

"Maybe he was waiting until I could handle it?" Naruto's face was as white as snow, which said something considering how tan he usually was.

"You don't **look** like you can handle it." Gaara pointed out.

Naruto shook his head frantically. "I don't **feel** like it either." He squeaked.

"So if that wasn't it…" dawning flashed across Gaara's face, and instantly, he was unbelievably sorry for Naruto, because he just had a hunch, but if it was true…

"Naruto, after you and Sasuke were traveling with each other… did anything happen between you two?" he asked flatly, unwilling to show his emotions, even to his best friend.

Naruto went from snow white to fire engine red in about 0.2 seconds, and ducked his head in a futile attempt to hide it.

"Well… we sort of…"

"Did you and him engage sexually in anyway?"

Naruto was still, and then slowly, as if the movement caused him actual pain, he nodded.

"Then that means the Kyuubi didn't knock you up." Gaara murmured, mostly to himself.

"He didn't?" Naruto was serious, Gaara felt his face deadpan.

"No, I think he was waiting for the Uchiha prick's powers. If he had to reproduce anyway, and he had to do it through a human, limiting the power the babies would get, then it makes sense that he would want to have the strongest and most available partner."

"But then…" Naruto pulled up his shirt and looked at his stomach. If he was 'on time', then he should have been about 8 weeks along now, and a little bit of a bump was just barely beginning to poke out of his middle. He touched it curiously. It was… **hard**, not soft like skin at all, it felt more like he'd swallowed a rock.

"I'm carrying… Sasuke's children?" Naruto whispered.

"Irony's a bitch." Gaara grumbled. "And irony seems to hate us jinchuuriki the most."

"But you aren't one anymore."

"I was."

Naruto nodded slowly, looking back down at his stomach.

"Gaara, um…"

"Yeah?" Gaara prompted gently.

"I need… I need to depend on you." Naruto said, aggravatingly slowly. "B-Because… I couldn't for him… I need to let go… I can't… he's not… for me… he isn't…"

Gaara got up slowly and sat down next to Naruto, knowing what was coming next. "You don't know that he's not right for you." _**I **__don't think he is either, but if I say that, Naruto will pitch himself out of my window._

Naruto gave a nod, and a shaky breath escaped his throat before he exploded in sobs, throwing his arms around Gaara's neck.

"He'll come looking for you soon, and when he does, we'll find out if he really cares about you or not, all right?" he gave Naruto and awkward pat on the back. He was not a people person.

"But what if he doesn't?" Naruto wailed into his shoulder.

Gaara paused. "Then you can stay here. Naruto, people care about you, even if that bastard doesn't. You gave me a reason to want to **live**… I want you to depend on me… even if he doesn't."

Naruto nodded, and another waterlogged sob burst from his throat, and then he was bawling again.

Gaara's fury shot through the roof, and the sand on the floor rippled uneasily with his anger.

_Damn you Uchiha, you will suffer for what you did to him._

Come to the dark side and review, we have sugar cookies this time!


	9. Dreams

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Dreams

_It was dark._

_He was always in the dark._

_He was used to it now. _

_Ever since his family had died, there'd been nothing but darkness._

_Just pure, smothering, inky, blackness. _

_And nothing else. _

_There was no light._

_There was no sun._

_There wasn't even a star._

_Black._

_There wasn't even enough light for shadows._

_But that wasn't surprising._

_Because there was no light._

_Sasuke looked frantically around him. _

_It was dark. _

_The dark had once comforted him, in all of its nothingness, but now… _

"_Sasuke."_

_Sasuke's head snapped up, looking for the source of the voice, but it was too dark to see anything. _

_No light…_

"_Aniki?" Sasuke called out, instinctively walking toward the voice._

"_Sasuke."_

"_Aniki?" he was sure it was Itachi's voice, and his stride became quicker, more desperate. _

_Disgusting, he wasn't supposed to be desperate. He was an Uchiha._

"_Sasuke." Farther this time; the voice was muffled, and far away. Too far…_

"_Aniki!" he didn't know when he'd started running, but he was flying through the blackness, running as hard as he could for Itachi._

_Nothing._

"_Aniki! __**Aniki**__!" Sasuke shouted, skidding to a halt when something came into view._

_Someone?_

_No, there was more than one._

"_Sasuke."_

"…_Mother?"_

"_You can't play with Itachi right now, maybe he'll have time for you later."_

"_What?" Sasuke called out, walking toward her voice._

_And then he saw them._

_The Uchiha clan. _

_Standing before him._

_His mother, father, uncles, aunts, cousins… all of them._

"_Itachi has more important things to do than play with you." _

_Her words were harsh, and they stung._

"_Why can't you be more like Itachi?"_

_It was his father this time._

_Never good enough._

"_Foolish little brother."_

_Sasuke's breath hitched, and he met the red eyes of Itachi Uchiha._

"_You are still too weak. You don't have enough hate. And you know something? You never will."_

_Sasuke shook his head, stumbling back. _

"_He doesn't have time for you."_

"_At you age, Itachi was highest in his class."_

"_Run,_ _if you wish to kill me, curse me! Hate me! And survive your miserable life... Run away, run away... Cling to life."_

"_I couldn't." Sasuke staggered back, but his family only seemed to draw closer every step back he took. _

_He had tried, but he couldn't._

"_He never had time for you, the demon fox was more important than you could have ever been."_

"_You could never do anything Itachi could."_

"_You don't interest me." Itachi said quietly._

_He had always hurt the most. _

_Everything Itachi said, it always hurt the most. _

_Why?_

"_You survived, and now you have no one."_

_Sasuke swayed, his brother's words branding deep into his mind. "No." _

_Alone. _

_Black. _

_Darkness._

_Hate._

_Sadness._

_Resentment… the list went on and on._

"_You couldn't even see what was right in front of you. You are still too weak."_

"_No." Sasuke moaned, his eyes wide in the darkness._

_Black._

_Dark._

_It was smothering._

_Crushing._

_He couldn't breathe._

_Couldn't breathe…_

"_Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke looked up weakly. _

_The eyes of his family._

_So blank. _

_Lifeless._

"_Sasuke! Damn it! I'm talking to you!"_

"_Na…ruto?" Sasuke turned slowly around, the glow in the distance catching his eye._

_Light?_

"_I hate people who lie to themselves!" Naruto crossed his arms accusingly._

_It was too bright._

_There was light._

_Shining through the darkness._

_Inside, Sasuke could feel his chest heating up._

_There was light…_

"_Yeah, because you're just perfect, you don't need to do anything we need to do."_

_Idiot, what was he rambling on about now?_

_Always so loud._

_Annoying._

_But still, important._

_How was he important?_

_How was Naruto Uzumaki important?_

"_You're blinded little brother, you can't even see what's in front of you."_

_Sasuke turned back to Itachi, his face contorted in confusion._

"_I don't… I don't understand Aniki!" his voice, it didn't sound like his, so disconnected…_

"_You take the light for granted, but when it is gone, you will feel the darkness again."_

"_The light?" he stepped toward his brother's voice again, confusion overtaking his mind._

"_The darkness is everywhere in you. You let the others bring you the light."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_When the light is gone, the pain you thought you knew will truly make itself known."_

"_Aniki—!"_

"_You have blinded yourself. You were never strong enough."_

_Sasuke felt his knees shake._

_Never strong enough._

_Never good enough._

"_You couldn't even protect one boy."_

_Sasuke's head snapped up again, only to find his own eyes staring back at him from the other side of a large mirror, stretching endlessly for the black sky._

"_He needed you." His mirrored self said harshly._

"_I tried—!" Sasuke protested._

"_It wasn't good enough."_

_Sasuke's head dropped as he stumbled back again. He didn't have anything to say to that. These were his own thoughts, he couldn't fight them._

_Never good enough._

"_Even as he leaves, the light still lingers in your eyes, and you don't see that it's gone until it has long passed."_

"_What?" Sasuke looked back up at himself, to find that his mirrored eyes were not looking into his own anymore, but beyond him._

_Sasuke turned slowly, finally noticing the receding light on the floor._

_Leaving…_

"_Naruto." Sasuke spoke out sharply, knowing exactly what was happening._

_Naruto would be gone._

_Gone._

_The light, it was pulling away, disappearing into the blackness._

_Alone._

"_Naruto." Sasuke took a weak step toward the disappearing flicker of light. It was leaving… gone…_

_He looked down in shock as his bare foot stepped in something. It was wet, and slick. _

_Blood._

_A trail of blood following the light._

"_You couldn't even protect one boy." The him in the mirror spoke again, soft and commanding. "And now you will loose him. The light is gone."_

"_Naruto." Sasuke staggered forward again, before racing off after the last flicker of light. "Naruto!"_

"_The light is gone." His voice followed him, like a haunting ghost, always hovering right behind him, breathing down his neck._

_There was no escape from it._

"_No!" he shouted desperately. "No! It's not gone yet!" he had a chance, he could catch up… but the air was thick… hard to run… not fast enough…_

"_You saw it leaving too late."_

"_No!"_

_Sasuke burst through the blackness, landing harshly on the ground beyond the darkness. Where was he now?_

_It was bright now._

_An orange glow._

_Fire._

_The fire surrounded him, lighting up the black sky with its sickening heat. Sasuke shielded his eyes with his arm and tried to see through the rippling heat wave to the other side._

_Blonde hair._

_Naruto._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, leaping through the flame enclosing him without a second thought even though the heat burned like acid at his skin._

_And Naruto turned slowly, and Sasuke stared into the blood red eyes of the Kyuubi._

"_Naruto." Sasuke said frantically. _

"_You let him go." The Kyuubi accused, its voice deep and menacing._

"_No!" Sasuke screamed, running again for his friend._

_Friend… how long had it been since he'd even thought that word?_

"_You let him leave."_

"_Damn it Naruto! Wake up! Don't loose yourself to it again!" Sasuke yelled, finally starting to catch up when everything went black. _

_Naruto was gone._

_He was alone again._

_Sasuke stumbled to a stop, crumpling to the ground, his face falling into his hands as he tried to shield himself from the blackness._

_It was no use._

_The darkness was everywhere._

_Naruto had left, and taken the light with him._

_No, he couldn't stop looking._

_Naruto was out there._

_The idiot needed him._

_Not for protection._

_For something much more powerful._

_Sasuke looked up sharply to the sound of a cry._

"_Naruto?" he shouted, flying for the sound. _

_He was not going to wait this time._

_Too important._

_Nothing else was this important._

"_You aren't strong enough." his voice told him._

"_Shut up!" Sasuke yelled._

"_Never strong enough. Never good enough—"_

"_Shut! __**UP**__!" Sasuke screamed, once again, smashing through the wall separating the dark and light, and the light flooded into the darkness, forcing it away until it no longer existed._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, whirling around to everything around him. It all looked the same…_

"_Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke shot like a lightning bolt for Naruto's voice._

_It was weak, Naruto's voice sounded frailer than it ever had before._

"_You're running out of time." His own voice mocked him._

"_I still have that time!" he shot back, bursting into a clearing and skidding to a stop to look around._

"_Sasuke!"_

_There! Sasuke whirled to the voice, only to come face to face with Gaara of the Desert. He leapt back instinctively as Gaara pulled the cork out of the giant gourd on his back and the sand slowly swirled out._

"_Sasuke…"_

_Sasuke gritted his teeth and reached for his sword. Gaara was standing between him and Naruto. If the sand ninja didn't move right fucking now, he was going to die._

"_Sasu…ke…"_

_Sasuke snarled at how weak and pleading Naruto sounded and gripped his sword tighter, drawing it and raising it at Gaara._

_There was another sound now._

_Crying._

_It was a baby._

Sasuke shot up in bed, gasping and clawing for air. He was soaked in sweat and his neck was raw from twisting against the collar so much in his sleep.

He was used to nightmares, he got them every night, but this one… for some reason, it hurt much worse than the others.

It was dark, he felt himself start to shake. Too dark. The light was gone—

"You alright?"

Sasuke turned weakly to the voice, remembering suddenly where he was, and that there were two ANBU by the sealed window looking out onto the black, night filled, snowy streets of Konoha. He hated the snow.

"_You're running out of time." His own voice mocked him._

He couldn't wait. He had to do it now.

With a gasp, Sasuke launched himself from the bed at the two ANBU.

"Wha—"

He smashed their heads together before they could even blink for minimal noise, though the crack as their skulls collided was still rather loud.

Sasuke's breathing was ragged, and he found himself sinking to the floor along with the two unconscious ANBU as he tried desperately to get his body calmed down. Every nerve in his body was shaking, his arms and legs were shivering and he felt like he was going to be sick, right there in the middle of his escape.

No, not now, he couldn't.

Sasuke moaned quietly and pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the way his knees wobbled as he heaved the ANBU off the ground and sat one on the chair leaning against the wall, and the other on the window sill, also leaning against the wall.

With that done, he stepped back and looked at the two quickly. In the dark, it just looked like they were sitting down. Well, it would have to do; he couldn't do anything better right now with no jutsu.

Sasuke staggered back to his bed and pulled the covers up to his knees. Far enough up so that he didn't look odd with no blanket, but also not so far up that they would get in the way.

His hand trembled as he reached out for the small red button at the side of his bed. His arms were covered in goose bumps and his entire body dripped with frantic sweat. At least, he thought with disgust, he would look the part of someone needing sleep medications.

He was weak, but managed to push down on the button enough for the damned thing to beep and irritate his headache more.

The intercom crackled and fizzed for a moment before someone spoke up from the other end.

"Are you alright?"

"I-I'll take those sleep meds now." Sasuke choked out, disgusted by how shaky his voice sounded. For Christ's sake, it was only a dream!

"Alright sweetie, I'll be down in a moment." The nurse said seductively and the intercom beeped again.

Sasuke hid his eyes behind his hands and tried to slow his breathing, sitting as still as a rock before he heard the nurse knock on the door.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she asked, thick and fake sympathy dripping from her voice.

_Prefect._ She was flat chested and had short hair, she would work perfectly.

Sasuke managed a nod to look the part of an insomniac, but his body was so out of his control it was a wonder the movement didn't look like a spasm.

She stepped into the room and, foolishly leaving the door open behind her, walking over to his bed with a small tray in one hand.

He stopped her reaching for the light with one hand on her wrist, rolling his eyes at her gasp.

"Please," he said in the most sultry voice he could do, "leave the light off, I have a horrible headache."

"Oh… but it's so… dark." She whispered, seeming to forget that the ANBU were 'watching' him and sat down seductively on his bed.

_Whore._ Sasuke grimaced and struck out, cracking her hard across the temple with the lamp, and she fell limply onto the bed beside him.

Sasuke moaned silently again from a relapse from the dream and pushed himself out of the bed, shoving her under the covers. Her uniform was white, the same color as the hospital gown, and her hair was short enough that when he tipped her head to the side and pushed her hair up on the pillow, she looked enough like him to be taken for him at a first glance.

He grabbed the shot she'd brought for him and pried the needle off the syringe, sticking the end slowly into the lock on his wrists until he hear the small click and they fell away, and then work on the collar next until he heard the same results.

He chakra flooded back into him, but he kept it as suppressed and invisible as he could so as not to draw unwanted people here to make sure that he was still locked up.

He crept silently to the door and looked out, dashing out after finding the hallway deserted.

He'd been in this hospital enough—even before leaving—to know where they kept patients belongings, and also knew enough that his clothes would be there even if his weapons and scrolls weren't.

He slid to a stop on the linoleum floor and leaned his head around the corner, running out as it was also empty, and dashed into the small room with the table for people's things. He ripped the hospital gown over his head and yanked on his pants, diving under the table with the rest of his things as he heard footsteps approaching.

"—bring him his clothes in the morning, the trial is today, along with his medications for pain, and—" he recognized the voice of the Hokage's assistant, Shizune, as she walked in with another nurse and came to an abrupt halt inside the room.

"Oh no." she breathed, flicking on the light and rushing over to the table. Sasuke mentally sighed in relief at the light as it washed over the room. "Please tell me someone in the hospital moved his things. **Please**."

"…N-No ma'am, everyone in the hospital was ordered directly by the Hokage not to touch anything of his."

"No, no, **no**!" Shizune ran from the table back into the hallway. "Check his room and be ready for an alert!"

"Yes ma'am!" the nurse yelled, running after her.

Sasuke crawled out from under the table as soon as were gone and yanked on the rest of his clothes, stuck his scrolls in his belt and tied his sword around his waist. He couldn't leave through the hospital now, the whole staff would be here in a few seconds looking for him in every mouse hole. There was no other choice.

He stepped up to the window and stuck his sword into the sill, prying out the glass and laying it carefully on the table so as not to make any noise, with that done, he squeezed out of the window and climbed up the drainpipe to reach the roof tops, jumping silently without chakra along the buildings.

_There! Sasuke whirled to the voice, only to come face to face with Gaara of the Sand. He leapt back instinctively as Gaara pulled the cork out of the giant gourd on his back and the sand slowly swirled out._

"_Sasuke…"_

_Sasuke gritted his teeth and reached for his sword. Gaara was standing between him and Naruto. If the sand ninja didn't move right fucking now, he was going to die._

Naruto told him that he'd stayed with Gaara for the first few weeks after leaving, and if Naruto was anything like his old self, and because of the dream, Sasuke was sure that was where Naruto would be.

These idiots had **terrible** security here. This made the third time he'd escaped after coming back here. Jeez, it was almost getting tediously boring.

Meanwhile

"He's an S-class ninja Sakura, I'm sorry, we have no choice."

"But Naruto wanted him back here—" Sakura protested.

"Naruto ever checked with any of the council or myself to see what would happen when he was brought back." Tsunade cut her off, leaning back in her chair. "I'm sorry, but this isn't my choice, I'm just relaying what the council has ordered me to."

"Well the get them in here and I'll give them a piece of—" Sakura raised her fist.

"Sakura!"

Tsunade ran her hand through her bangs, not meeting Sakura's eye. "I don't want to do this either. I know how much Naruto cares for the Uchiha, but I'm afraid none of out opinions will change the councils' view. Sasuke is an S-class ninja, and will be tried and sentenced to either life in prison, or death, with the most likely being the latter."

"You can't—"

"This isn't about what I can or can't do." Tsunade snapped. "It's about what the council can or can't do, and unfortunately, they can do anything within the walls of this village."

Sakura clenched her fists.

"Well you want Naruto back, don't you?" she shouted.

"Or course, but that has nothing—"

"It has **everything** to do with that actually!" Sakura screamed, not caring that she'd woken up half of Konoha by now. "Naruto completely lost himself to the fox when we saw him!"

Tsunade was silent in shock. "How do you know about—"

"I know!" tears were streaming down her cheeks as she took a desperate step forward. "I know about the Kyuubi, I've known for some time!"

"When Naruto went crazy," she continued without pausing, "he attacked me so I wouldn't get anywhere near Sasuke, look!" she held up her arm, and Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the darkened skin. Thank god Sakura was a strong healer, or her arm wouldn't have been healing. It would have been black and dying from the burns that Naruto inflicted on her, not just darkened like a strong tan.

"And Sasuke was able to wake him up again, don't you get it? If you try and do anything to Sasuke, you'll bring Naruto down on the village, and Sasuke's the only one who can snap him back to his senses if that ever happens!"

Tsunade was silent.

"Sasuke's the only one." Sakura whispered. "We all tried, but I thought… I thought I was going to die. I thought he was going to kill me, and it was so hot… it hurt so much… so much worse than a wound from a sword or anything." She was shaking now, and her voice had lost all of its power.

"Does the council want Naruto back too, because he's too dangerous to leave him running wild out where he can be captured by Akatsuki?" Sakura asked, a little more hope restored in her heart from Tsunade's silence.

"…They do." Tsunade said reluctantly, reaching into her desk.

"Tell them! Tell them that you need Sasuke to be able to hold Naruto here! And Naruto might even come back here to get Sasuke!"

"That's what I was hoping." Tsunade began to scribble something down on the parchment. "But even then, Naruto might not come back. I can try and persuade the council to keep Sasuke alive for your reasons, but that'll only happen if Naruto comes back. Yes, I want the brat back too, and I want to use the Uchiha to draw him back home, so I'll be trying to keep him alive already, but with your reasons, it'll definitely give the council more to think about."

"Thank you!" Sakura gushed. "You don't know how much he means to me and I know I can speak for Naruto too—"

"Tsunade! Tsunade!" Shizune burst in through her window, panting and looking utterly horrified.

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU NINJAS AND YOUR NEED TO COME THROUGH THE WINDOW OR WALK THROUGH MY DOOR WITHOUT KNOCKING?" Tsunade bellowed.

"Tsunade, it's the Uchiha…" Shizune began slowly.

"…What about him?" Tsunade's voice was sharp now.

"Well, he, uh… this morning… we found… um…" Shizune stuttered, wringing her hands nervously.

Silence.

"What is it?" Tsunade said dangerously.

"He's, um… he's gone." She squeaked, lowering her head.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Tsunade screamed.

Meanwhile, Outside Konoha

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

Sasuke smirked, inwardly a little bit sympathetic for the poor bastard who had to be the one to tell her that he was missing, **again**… but only a little.

To Be Continued!

RR&R! Read, Rate and Review! Thanks for reading, and please review for the poor sappy writers who slave to bring you our stories!

JK, but reviewing really does make us happy!

Sorry this was so long ^^ but I just want to say before I clock out that I vow I will not abandon this story.

I love it too much to do that and I hate when people do that, so you have my word that this story will be finished!


	10. Driven

I don't own anything but my ideas!

Driven

Sasuke sat quietly on Gaara's bed, silently combing through Naruto's hair with his fingers as he stared down at the sleeping angelic face.

_Flashback_

_Sasuke bit deep into his lip, drawing blood in his frustration. _

Shit, I have to get by Gaara without hurting him… _There was a very high chance that Naruto wouldn't ever want to see him again if he even touched Gaara. Naruto had very strong feelings about his friends getting hurt._

_Sasuke crouched lower, his eyes flicking between his surroundings and the huge ball of floating sand in front of him. He was __**not**__ in a good position, he was surrounded by sand, fighting a sand-wielder, and it was on Gaara's territory to boot._

_Sneaking in had been a bust, he'd gotten halfway to the tower when Gaara had appeared out of nowhere in front of him, saying something about how he didn't have the right to see Naruto, and that people like him should be drowned in their own ego to finally be forced to understand how much they hurt others._

_And the second Sasuke had tried to get into Gaara's mind to just play a few mental tricks for a moment and then move on his way, the damned-to-hell sand ninja had sealed himself inside a giant ball of his sand, effectively cutting off the needed direct connection between their eyes, and Sasuke couldn't use the giant eye made of sand to hypnotize Gaara. He was going to use the Mangekyo to melt the sand into glass, but it was too hot, and not to mention unstable and extremely dangerous. He would just melt the Kazekage too._

_End Flashback _

Naruto sighed contently, resting in Sasuke's lap with his head laid carefully on Sasuke's shoulder. He murmured something unintelligible in his half-slumber and then went back to drooling on Sasuke's shoulder as he slept.

_Flashback_

"_Bastards like you have no right to destroy the lives of others." Gaara's voice echoed from the ball of sand across the sand dunes. "You've hurt Naruto more than you, who is as cold as the dark side of the moon, could ever understand."_

_Sasuke snarled, leaping into the air and flipping back and forth away from the crushing grip of the deadly sand that wanted to taste his blood._

_He couldn't do anything, not without hurting Gaara. He'd never had a reason to learn to fight someone without hurting them, he was a ninja, ninja fought to kill, not to be pacifists and never give anyone so much as a bruise, but Naruto was so attached to the insane redhead, fighting without hurting someone was exactly what Sasuke had to do._

_End Flashback_

The redhead continued to stand guard, leaning against the door with his gourd of sand between him and the wood. His gaze was deathly, and was frankly making Sasuke's skin stand on end as Gaara never looked away from them, keeping a never-ending watch over Naruto.

_Flashback_

"_Just let me talk to him!" Sasuke roared._

"_That is the last thing you will be doing." Gaara's voice echoed from inside of the ball and the sand over the city rippled, anxious to attack the Uchiha again. "What you will be doing, is dying."_

_Sasuke snarled and leapt over another wave of sand, looking down sharply as it wrapped around his ankle and flung him back into the walls of the nearest building. Sasuke shoved himself out of the wall, dashing down the sandstone and to the ground before the sand in the building could grab him. He'd seen the sand coffin before, and had no desire to witness it first-hand._

"_Naruto needs to hear what I have to say!" _

"_What he needs is you out of his life to stop hurting him." Gaara spoke in his monotone voice, the sand launching and twisting for Sasuke as he managed to dodge it._

"_Naruto's here?" Temari asked quietly from down below on the streets with the other ninja and Kankuro. Her fan was open beside her and Kankuro's puppet was standing beside him, waiting for orders, all of the ninja of the city ready to step into the battle to help despite how the darkness of night made it nearly invisible. _

_Sasuke swore as Gaara remained silent and charged the ball, his anger overthrowing him as the chidori sparked and glowed in his palm. He flipped over the sand, smashing through it with the excess energy of the attack, and launched himself at the floating sand orb, winding his hand back and throwing the chidori at the Kazekage._

_He flipped back, avoiding the gathering villagers that had come to watch the battle and landed on a roof of one of the few wooden buildings, keeping him safe from the sand for the moment._

_The chidori rocketed for Gaara, hidden deep within his shield, and the sand whirled up around it, spiraling and trying to throw the chidori off track._

_End Flashback_

Sasuke's skin prickled again as he shifted to lean up against the headboard, signaling that Gaara was glaring death at him. He ignored it as best he could and adjusted Naruto across his lap, putting the blonde in a more comfortable position so his shoulder wasn't digging painfully into Sasuke's collarbone, threatening to bruise it.

"Gaara."

"…Yes?" Gaara answered slowly, his bone chilling voice barely making it across the room he spoke so quietly.

"With the Shukaku, did you have sides?" Sasuke looked up at him, meeting the icy eyes for the first time.

"…Sides?" he repeated slowly.

_Flashback_

_The sand continued to swirl up around the chidori, and began to shoot up in its way, slowing the momentum down as it burned through the masses of sand, and eventually, the whirlwind and the sand in the way slowed the chidori enough to ricochet it up into the sky._

_Sasuke swore, forced to admit that Gaara would have also gotten better along with Naruto in the time he was gone, it wouldn't be as easy as blowing a hole through the sand anymore._

_The only way…_

"_Let me talk to him!" Sasuke shouted up at the eye of sand. "If he doesn't want to see me, I'll leave!"_

_Gaara remained silent, and another thought occurred to Sasuke._

"_I'm not here to bring him to Akatsuki! I've been traveling with him for weeks! I would have done it eons ago if that was my reason! I wouldn't have waited until the idiot was being hidden from me!"_

_Slowly, the sand around the ball began to disperse, leaving a small hole where Gaara's ice blue eyes stared through, seeming to bore into his soul._

_That was it, if Gaara didn't let him through to Naruto, Sasuke wasn't going to hold back anymore. No one but no one was going to keep Naruto away from him, not even the Dobe himself. Gaara could go to hell along with Naruto's caring for him._

_Gaara's sand whirled up out of nowhere and encased Sasuke's legs and arms, leaving one his head free to movement._

_The sand in front of his feet twisted into a slow whirlpool and Gaara rose out of the center, sand running off of his head like an hourglass._

"_If he doesn't want to see me, I'll leave." Sasuke repeated, firmer this time, staring back unblinkingly into Gaara's eyes._

_Slowly, Gaara nodded, and the sand rose up, carrying Sasuke like a hung bear over the city and lowered him through a window, setting him on the floor and sliding off of him, though it remained at the window behind him, guarding him._

_Naruto was sitting on the bed, and jolted up like 14,000 volts had been sent through the sheets when he saw Sasuke, staring with almost horror back at Uchiha, though he seemed to relax when Gaara again rose out of the sand in the floor. That hurt the most, that Naruto didn't feel safe around him._

"_Naruto."_

_Said blonde backed up more, until his back was almost against the wall._

_He didn't know what to say. He was waiting for Naruto's tirade, but if Naruto said nothing, then Gaara would shatter his spine through his neck from behind._

_Naruto was quivering, that was his only reaction so far since—_

"_YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto launched himself as Sasuke, colliding and smashing back into the wall, pummeling his fists into Sasuke's gut and punching Sasuke across the face, intent on leaving some bruises, if not some broken bones._

"_You—" __punch__ "—stupid—" __thwack__ "—double-crossing—" _

"_Naru—oomph!" Sasuke began, only to be cut off with a knee in his gut._

"—_idiot—" __kick__ "—bastard—" __pow__ "—son of a—" __wham__ "—SNAKE!" Naruto roared, throwing punches and kicks every pause in his breath. Meanwhile, Gaara stood up against the wall, one eye raised in amusement as he watched Naruto pound Sasuke._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke attacked back, flipping Naruto over onto his back and trying to pin his arms down. Naruto yelled out and lashed forward, sinking his appearing fangs into Sasuke's arm._

"_AH!" Sasuke yanked back, giving Naruto the time he needed to flip them again and continue battering him._

"_What the hell were you thinking?" Naruto's hands were heating up with his rage, leaving fist marks not only stinging, but burning too. "Did you think Orochimaru was just going to welcome you back and ask you to bring him __**tea **__every now and then?"_

_Sasuke's fist struck out, catching Naruto sharply across the cheek and sending him flying back. Naruto could hit hard, but when the blonde hit him he couldn't go any further back into the floor, but Naruto had the entire room behind him to go when was hit. As Sasuke flew at Naruto again, he saw Gaara shift beside him, ready to jump in and snap Sasuke's neck if the occasion arose, as he seemed rather eager to do it already._

_Naruto flipped himself in midair and latched into the wall with his claws, clinging into the sand and snarling in his rage._

_Sasuke made one move to get back up and Naruto rocketed forward, slamming into Sasuke again and sending them sprawling across the floor._

"_He wanted to rape you! Damn it, you're such an idiot! Didn't you get that 'I want your body' had more than one meaning?"_

"_And you know this how?" Sasuke dodged another particularly vicious punch, ducking around Naruto's kick next._

"_I could smell it, alright?" Naruto roared, fury heating up more at Sasuke's perplexed face. "The damn fox and his damned hyper senses? Remember? He took one look at you and the arousal in the area shot through the roof and only got higher when you agreed to give your body to him!"_

"_His snakes were all over __**you**__, idiot—oww!" Sasuke yelled as another punch hit his chest, knocking the wind out of him._

"_**I'm **__the idiot? I was the __**entrée**__, you were the main fucking course!_

"_Jealous?" Sasuke smirked, stiffening when Naruto grabbed his collar. Naruto growled for another second, and Gaara took a step closer, ready to separate them forcibly if need be, when Naruto yanked Sasuke forward, slamming their lips together._

_Naruto pulled back to rest his forehead against Sasuke's chest, his grip still tight on Sasuke's shirt, incoherent mumbles of "stupid" and "bastard" could be heard from Naruto, but that was the only sound in the room._

Later

Sasuke sat quietly on Gaara's bed, silently combing through Naruto's hair with his fingers as he stared down at the sleeping angelic face.

Naruto sighed contently, resting in Sasuke's lap with his head laid carefully on Sasuke's shoulder. He murmured something unintelligible in his half-slumber and then went back to drooling on Sasuke's shoulder as he slept.

The redhead continued to stand guard, leaning against the door with his gourd of sand between him and the wood. His gaze was deathly, and was frankly making Sasuke's skin stand on end as Gaara never looked away from them, keeping a never-ending watch over Naruto.

Sasuke's skin prickled again as he shifted to lean up against the headboard, signaling that Gaara was glaring death at him. He ignored it as best he could and adjusted Naruto across his lap, putting the blonde in a more comfortable position so his shoulder wasn't digging painfully into Sasuke's collarbone, threatening to bruise it.

"Gaara."

"…Yes?" Gaara answered slowly, his bone chilling voice barely making it across the room he spoke so quietly.

"With the Shukaku, did you have sides?" Sasuke looked up at him, meeting the icy eyes for the first time.

"…Sides?" he repeated slowly.

"When Naruto… looses himself, there's different side he goes into." Sasuke continued. "One side, his first side, is himself. The obnoxious, loud, idiot who has bad chakra control."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gaara smirk.

"The second side, is the Kyuubi itself. I've seen it come out a few times when Naruto was asleep, but Naruto's body stayed the same."

If Gaara was unnerved by that fact, he hid it very well, so Sasuke continued.

"The third was like… now. When he's mad and starts to leak the fox's chakra. And then I've only seen his fourth side once, when he got mad at Orochimaru and attacked him; he attacked Sakura too. It was just the Kyuubi's power and a… lust for killing." That didn't sound right when he was talking about Naruto.

"…I think I had sides like that, I don't remember much of it though, except being angry, and needing to taste blood." Gaara said finally.

Sasuke nodded slowly and shifted the sleeping Naruto again so he was leaning comfortably against the wall behind the bed.

Good bloody lord he was tired, he hadn't slept since leaving Konoha because it had been so damn cold. He and Naruto had been in the south when they were traveling together, so no snow had been affecting their sleeping patterns, and on top of that, he didn't waste time with sleeping during traveling to Suna to get Naruto back for the fear that Naruto would leave Suna again and he would have to try and find Naruto out of the entire damn country again.

Dodging Gaara's attacks without fighting back had also been draining, and added to the fact that his sleep before leaving in Konoha had left him exhausted because of that dream, it was like he hadn't slept in six days.

Sasuke bit back a yawn, and settled for just closing his eyes instead.

Just for a second…

Later

"You can drop the act now Naruto, he's asleep."

Naruto cracked an eye and looked curiously up at Sasuke, making sure the raven was really asleep before easing up out of his lap and back onto the bed, being careful not to jostle anything or risk waking Sasuke.

"So you don't sleep anymore?"

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "Not since he said the Kyuubi comes out when I do. You know… too dangerous. It's hard though…"

Gaara nodded, keeping still against the wall.

"I thought I was going to loose it, earlier." Naruto stared blankly at the wall where large gouge marks from his claws were very visible, his hands draped limply across his knees.

"I thought I was going to have to forcibly restrain you."

Naruto glared at his friend's sadistic face—who was enjoying the idea far too much—not yelling only because he didn't want to wake Sasuke.

"You're having way too much fun with this." He accused, crossing his arms childishly.

"Believe it." Gaara said smugly, moving to the door.

"…Y-You're going?" Naruto's voice was small and frail. Gaara felt the anger bubbling up inside of him again at the sound of it. Damn the Uchiha to hell and back seven times! If he hadn't given himself to the snake man to be killed, then Naruto would still be his same idiot self minus his most recent abandonment issues.

"I was just going to keep watch outside the door. Only Temari and Kankuro know you're here, the other villagers thought you left. I don't think it would be good if they knew he"—he shot Sasuke a glare—"was here, especially after the fight."

Naruto nodded, scooting back over to Sasuke's side and laying his head against the raven's shoulder.

"…Gaara…?" he asked after a while.

Naruto sighed, moving right along to the question when Gaara didn't answer.

"How am I going to tell him?" Naruto asked quietly, playing with a loose string on Sasuke's shirt nervously. "About…" he looked pointedly at his stomach, unable to say it out loud.

Naruto sighed again when Gaara didn't answer.

"…He might just notice after a while." Gaara said finally.

"…Notice?" Naruto blinked.

"Have you **seen** anyone pregnant recently Naruto?" Gaara rolled his eyes. "The huge stomach? The enormous appetite—"

"I have!" Naruto defended himself haughtily.

"Don't wake him, I can't deal with anymore of him for the moment." Gaara growled, glaring at Sasuke again.

"Uh… right." Naruto unconsciously inched closer to Sasuke in an almost protective way.

"So you aren't going to ditch him again?" it was clear Gaara disapproved about him staying with Sasuke.

"…The bastard's important to me." Naruto said quietly. "I know you don't like him, but… he sees me for me Gaara, not for the fox… a lot like you."

Gaara stiffened visibly at the mention of him being anything like Sasuke, but remained silent.

"Gaara…? Um…"

"What?"

"Can we stay here? Just for a little bit? It's a long way back to the south and Sasuke doesn't like the snow or the cold and we can't go back to Konoha—"

"Fine." Gaara cut him off, pulling open the door as he spoke to Naruto over his shoulder. "I'll have something set up for you, but only so long as you stay hidden from the rest of the villagers. They like you, but him…" Gaara seemed to be trying to spit venom at Sasuke through his glare. "And if you're both going to be here, it would be better if you were both staying hidden."

"Thank you Gaara!" Naruto yelled as loud as he could in a whisper, leaping across the bed and latching onto Gaara in a tight hug, missing the annoyed, but happy smile of the Kazekage as his friend buried his face in his back.

"You both have to keep you chakra nonexistent." Gaara's face was stoic again, and he shot Sasuke another glare before detangling himself from Naruto's arms.

"Thank you—"

Gaara's hand over his mouth cut him off abruptly as Sasuke stirred to the loud noise, but thankfully went back to his motionless sleep after a moment.

"Quiet." Gaara hissed dangerously. Naruto nodded quickly, prying Gaara's hand off his mouth so he could breathe.

"I'll swear a small group of maids to secrecy and assign them to you, they'll get you anything you need so you wont have to leave your room, and…" he gave his bed a disgusted look, "don't do **anything** with him in here, I'm already going to have to burn that bed because he touched it, I don't want to have to incinerate this room too."

Naruto blushed a deep shade of red, going into 'statue mode' as the Kazekage left to make the arrangements. He sighed and looked back at Sasuke, surprised—in the least—to see that Sasuke's expression was relaxed… peaceful, almost.

After months spent traveling with him over the years—before and after Sasuke had left—Naruto had gotten accustomed to Sasuke's pained and stern face when he slept, but now, for some reason, Sasuke almost looked… happy.

Naruto broke into a huge grin and switched to 'stealth mode', calling on his chakra, but making sure to keep it invisible, crawled up carefully onto the bed. He got onto his knees and slid his arms at snail pace under Sasuke, making sure his head would stay in the same place as he lifted the raven, and switched their positions, settling Sasuke like a China doll across his lap, with Sasuke's head resting on the crook of his neck.

And for the second time, after discovering that he could smell unwanted visitors and some emotions, he thanked the Kyuubi for his powers and chakra.

"Well bastard," Naruto whispered, burying his face in Sasuke's ebony hair, "I finally did it. I saved you. You saved me from the Kyuubi, and I saved you from Orochimaru."

He still didn't quite remember what had happened, it was all just a red fiery blur in his mind, but he knew that Orochimaru was dead. He remembered his claws sinking through the freak's heart.

"You save me from my monster, and I'll save you from yours."

XXX

_More blackness._

_More darkness._

_Sasuke looked around, but he could see nothing._

_He was beginning to hate the darkness._

_He hated how you couldn't see anything._

_He hated the numb feeling._

_He hated the vulnerable feeling._

_He hated the aloneness. _

_He used to find comfort in the dark._

_It was quiet._

_Calming._

_Peaceful._

_But now it was just another pain._

_Another source of hurt._

_And it seemed… the blackness wasn't going away._

_The blank feeling wasn't leaving any time soon._

_And he was still alone._

"_Aniki…" Sasuke whispered into the darkness._

_There had been a time when Sasuke always turned to his brother for comfort._

_A time when his mother would tell him things would turn out fine in the end._

_And he vaguely remembered a time when his father told him once that he knew Sasuke would be a great ninja._

_But Sasuke was unsure of that now._

_There was just pain._

_There was just nothingness._

_He was alone._

_He was always alone._

_A light flashed somewhere in the distance, and Sasuke opened his eyes to a field._

_Bright blue sky, grass rustling in the light breeze, and flowers._

_Sasuke huffed._

_Flowers were just an annoyance that girls had once asked him to give them on Valentines Day._

_Just something to hate._

"_Wow!" _

_Sasuke looked up in confusion to the new voice, someone was here with him?_

_A little way off stood two people, young people, judging from their size._

_He took an unconscious step towards them, and then the second spoke, his voice much more disinterested._

"_They're just flowers."_

_It was his voice, a younger him, long before he'd left the village. He could see his bored stance, standing with his hands in his pockets as he stared out over the field, acting as if watching the clouds would be more interesting than standing in a field of flowers._

"_Yeah, but look at how many there are!" the second stood up, throwing his hands into the air._

_It was Naruto, a younger Naruto._

"_They're just flowers Naruto." The young Sasuke repeated, turning to walk back into the forest. Sasuke's brow furrowed painfully. The forest was so dark… and he wasn't old enough yet to know to not walk into the darkness. This Sasuke before him hadn't suffered through anything yet._

"_Sasuke, look at this!" Naruto raced off into the field, pushing aside the waist high flowers as he ran._

"_Naruto, we have to go back." The young Sasuke paused at the edge of the forest, rolling his eyes as Naruto continued running._

_The young Sasuke waited for a moment, groaning when nothing orange or blonde ran back over the hill into their view. Sasuke felt his feet following the younger Sasuke as he went to go retrieve Naruto, but he felt oddly… disconnected____from his body. _

"_Naruto! We can't be late!" young Sasuke yelled out from the top of the hill. Sasuke stepped up to his younger version's side, but he seemed invisible to everyone in this world._

"_Naruto?" young Sasuke looked around, pulling his hands out of his pockets as he continued to walk down the hill. Sasuke recognized it immediately as what he used to do when he was nervous, to take his hands out of his pockets and clench them, Sasuke's lips pressed into a straight line; it was probably because he wanted to hit something, to release his nervousness._

"_Naruto!" the younger Sasuke shouted, walking faster as he continued to look._

_He stopped at the edge of a small river and looked out over the surface, shimmering in the sun, before turning back to the field._

"_Naruto!" his younger version shouted, breaking into a run. Night was falling, and fast too. The field was getting too black to see in._

_Sasuke ran after his younger self, who he estimated to be twelve or so, just after they'd formed group seven. But what were he and Naruto doing out this late? It was well past the time when Kakashi would have sent them home, declaring whatever mission they had that day over._

"_Naruto!" he heard himself shout, the anger beginning to be noticeable in his voice._

_Sasuke looked to the surrounding forest, startled at the snake eyes beginning to form out of the darkness, countless pairs, watching the younger him as he ran._

_The younger Sasuke gasped as they appeared in front of him, the snakes slithering out of the darkness and rearing up in front of his younger self. About to draw his sword and jump in, Sasuke remembered that he was just a ghost here, unable to do anything but watch._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke whirled around, trying to find a way through the snakes and to find Naruto at the same time. Sasuke closed his eyes, unwilling to watch the suffering he'd already been through._

_Sasuke opened his eyes again as his younger self faced him, staring wide-eyed through him to whatever was behind him._

_Sasuke frowned at the fear in the younger self's eyes. It wasn't fear for himself, or even of the snakes, it was fear for Naruto. That much, he was sure of._

"_Naruto!" young Sasuke broke into a run, passing right through Sasuke to run back to the field, but it was too dark, Sasuke knew his younger self would never find it. The darkness was too smothering._

"_Naruto!" the young Sasuke yelled, racing to the form in the distance. It was orange. Sasuke felt oddly more comforted as his younger self relaxed at the sight of Naruto._

"_What?" Naruto asked casually as young Sasuke caught up with him._

"_Naruto, the snakes! We have to get out of here!"_

_Well, Sasuke thought with almost disinterest, at least his younger self had sense enough to know he wasn't strong enough to face Orochimaru yet._

"_Teme." Naruto shook his head, and young Sasuke's head snapped up sharply. "I already beat him, remember?"_

_Sasuke looked back to the forest they'd just run out of, finding every snake in the forest slithering weakly out, each one of them being engulfed in a flame that slowly ate away at them until they were nothing._

"_But… how…?" young Sasuke gaped and all Sasuke could do was stare disapprovingly at how open his emotions were._

"_Come on." Naruto smiled, leading young Sasuke into the darkness._

"_Naruto, are you crazy?" young Sasuke barked as Naruto began to disappear into the blackness. "We can't even see in there!"_

"_I can see." Naruto looked back at him with confusion. "…You… can't?"_

_The young Sasuke stared blankly at him, obviously shocked that Naruto could see, but to Sasuke, it now made perfect sense. Naruto was so bright, so like the sun all on his own, that he would always be able to see through the blackness in front of him, even if it seemed hopeless to get through to others._

"_Come on." Naruto said happily, waving Sasuke forward, but his younger version didn't move._

_Naruto sighed, walking back to Sasuke's twelve-year-old self, he held out his hand gently._

"_Come on, it's late, and I want to show you something before we go. I can see, trust me."_

_The younger Sasuke looked to the darkness and back to Naruto, before slowly reaching out his hand and taking Naruto's._

_It was pitch black, Sasuke couldn't see anything, and was forced to follow his younger self and Naruto's younger version by the sound of their footsteps alone, making following them difficult because of how thick the air was in the dark. It was hard to breathe, let alone hear or see._

"_Look." Naruto pointed, and both Sasukes looked up, slowly making out a small patch of light in the distance._

_Eventually, they made it out of the darkness, and Sasuke found himself with the other two back in the field… except… it was night._

_Sasuke looked up to the stars in confusion. It was night. Why could he now see through the blackness, to make out what was really in the dark?_

"_See?" Naruto asked, his grip still tight on younger Sasuke's hand. "Isn't it pretty?"_

_Sasuke had to admit, that it __**was**__ pretty. The flowers had a whole new meaning and look in the night, swishing quietly in the breeze, and the river at the bottom of one side of the hill they were on caught the stars like a mirror._

"_Yeah." His younger version said finally, looking out over the field with a small smile on his face._

"_Told ya' you'd like it." Naruto grinned smugly, plopping down into the high grass and flipping over onto his back, staring up at the sky with a huge grin on his face._

_Sasuke's younger self looked down in annoyance at Naruto, but eventually sat down beside him, and then laid down among the grass, watching the stars._

"_The moon is pretty too." Naruto said casually, his fingers still entwined with the young raven's, who nodded slowly._

_Sasuke watched as Naruto adjusted himself, so that his feet were facing the opposite direction as young Sasuke, with their ears next to each other, their fingers still locked by their heads, and quite suddenly, Sasuke felt like he was invading on something private._

_It was hot._

_And getting hotter, fast._

_What the hell was going on?_

Sasuke wrenched open his eyes to the dark confides of the room they must have been moved to, but… even though it was the middle of the night, the room was actually anything but dark. Sasuke stiffened, recognizing the dark chakra as he turned carefully to the side.

Naruto arched his back, his claws tearing through the sheets on the bed as he slowly pushed himself onto all fours on the bed. His deep, ragged breathing echoed around the small room, and his body was glowing with the unearthly power of the Kyuubi as he clawed at the bed, trying to get himself in control. It wasn't working.

"Get him to shut up!" Gaara barked, appearing at the door of the room, a small group of maids cowering behind him.

"And what do you suggest?" Sasuke shot back, reaching for Naruto, but the blonde dematerialized before his eyes and reappeared over on the far side of the room, pressed as far up against the wall as he could be to get away from them.

Gaara snarled and began to sink into the floor. "I'm going to block out his chakra with mine. Get him calmed down." the Kazekage said with the voice of a serial killer as he disappeared into the floor.

Sasuke watched until he disappeared into the sand before moving quickly to Naruto's side.

"Oi, Dobe." Sasuke reached out, only to have Naruto smack his hand away sharply.

"Get… away." Naruto forced out through his teeth, clutching at his head. "I can't… control…"

Sasuke's brow furrowed, and he prepared himself for another few hours of blistering, burning lips until the Kyuubi's chakra died down enough so he could heal himself and leaned in.

"N…No!" Naruto yelled, shoving himself further back into the wall. "I'm… I'm…"

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke slammed his hands against the wall on either side of Naruto's head, trapping him there. "This is how I woke you up last time, just sit **still** for a second!"

Naruto shook his head, a frantic look beginning to appear in his red eyes as he flattened himself against the wall.

Sasuke crouched lower to get at eye level with Naruto and leaned in again. His lips touched softly against Naruto's, and he was shocked to find them… cool. Not hot and blazing like Naruto usually was when he was like this. He could hear Gaara's sand burying the room, blocking off the windows and doors to keep things silent and nonexistent to the outside world, but his mind was only on Naruto.

He felt Naruto relax against him, and then push forward into the raven's chest until Sasuke was rocking off balance backwards. Sasuke pulled away to breathe, and Naruto's red eyes met his before Sasuke was thrown back with the force of a tsunami, the backs of his knees slamming into the bed and his head smashing against the wall as he fell back.

He looked up to the sound of jagged breathing above him, finding Naruto hovering above him, hands on either side of his head and knees on the sides of his hips, an excited look flashing behind his red eyes as Naruto rolled his tongue hungrily behind his sharpened teeth.

"Naruto?"

Naruto laughed and leaned in, licking Sasuke's neck harshly, canine teeth scraping across skin and drawing blood as he moved down to Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke's eyes popped open as his brain fit all of the pieces together.

Naruto was horny, and it was making the fox restless, coming out as this unstable chakra, driven to mate.

_Whatever, I'll just deal with it. Get rid of it and he'll calm down._

Sasuke swallowed and pushed up off the bed, moving his arms up and down over Naruto's arms through the material of his shirt. He traced his tongue over Naruto's cheek as the blonde sat still for a moment, purring slightly at the caresses, but as Sasuke tried to roll Naruto onto his back, Naruto's arm snapped up and slammed Sasuke's arms back down against the bed, pinning his hands up by his head and diving into his neck again.

Sasuke wasn't called a genius for nothing, and his eyes went wide with almost horror as he finally understood what Naruto wanted.

_He wants… to top me._

Come to the dark side and review! We have cookies!

Heh heh, I was feeling bold… so guess what?

LEMON NEXT CHAPTER!

Expect it my young Patawans!


	11. That Wasn't So Bad, Was It?

I don't own anything but my ideas.

WARNING: POMEGRANTE! Err, um… LEMON! NOT FOR KIDDIES!

DEDICTION:

This chapter is dedicated to Akenhod for the **best** comment for the last chapter. You made my day!

Akenhod: "Take it like a man, Sasuke!"

That Wasn't So Bad, Was It?

Earlier

"Get him to shut up!" Gaara barked, appearing at the door of the room, a small group of maids cowering behind him.

"And what do you suggest?" Sasuke shot back, reaching for Naruto, but the blonde dematerialized before his eyes and reappeared over on the far side of the room, pressed as far up against the wall as he could be to get away from them.

Gaara snarled and began to sink into the floor. "I'm going to block out his chakra with mine. Get him calmed down." the Kazekage said with the voice of a serial killer as he disappeared into the floor.

Sasuke watched until he disappeared into the sand before moving quickly to Naruto's side.

"Oi, Dobe." Sasuke reached out, only to have Naruto smack his hand away sharply.

"Get… away." Naruto forced out through his teeth, clutching at his head. "I can't… control…"

Sasuke's brow furrowed, and he prepared himself for another few hours of blistering, burning lips until the Kyuubi's chakra died down enough so he could heal himself, and leaned in.

"N…No!" Naruto yelled, shoving himself further back into the wall. "I'm… I'm…"

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke slammed his hands against the wall on either side of Naruto's head, trapping him there. "This is how I woke you up last time, just sit **still** for a second!"

Naruto shook his head, a frantic look beginning to appear in his red eyes as he flattened himself against the wall.

Sasuke crouched lower to get at eye level with Naruto and leaned in again. His lips touched softly against Naruto's, and he was shocked to find them… cool. Not hot and blazing like Naruto usually was when he was like this. He could hear Gaara's sand burying the room, blocking off the windows and doors to keep things silent and nonexistent to the outside world, but his mind was only on Naruto.

He felt Naruto relax against him, and then push forward into the raven's chest until Sasuke was rocking off balance backwards. Sasuke pulled away to breathe, and Naruto's red eyes met his before Sasuke was thrown back with the force of a tsunami, the backs of his knees slamming into the bed and his head smashing against the wall as he fell back.

He looked up to the sound of jagged breathing above him, finding Naruto hovering over him, hands on either side of his head and knees on the sides of his hips, an excited look flashing behind his red eyes as Naruto rolled his tongue hungrily behind his sharpened teeth.

"Naruto?"

Naruto laughed and leaned in, licking Sasuke's neck harshly, canine teeth scraping across skin and drawing blood as he moved down to Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke's eyes popped open as his brain fit all of the pieces together.

Naruto was horny, and it was making the fox restless, coming out as this unstable chakra, driven to mate.

_Whatever, I'll just deal with it. Get rid of it and he'll calm down._

Sasuke swallowed and pushed up off the bed, moving his arms up and down over Naruto's arms through the material of his shirt. He traced his tongue over Naruto's cheek as the blonde sat still for a moment, purring slightly at the caresses, but as Sasuke tried to roll Naruto onto his back, Naruto's arm snapped up and slammed Sasuke's wrists back down against the bed, pinning his hands up by his head and diving into his neck again.

Sasuke wasn't called a genius for nothing, but his eyes went wide with almost horror as he finally understood what Naruto wanted.

_He wants… to top me._

"N-Naruto!" Sasuke called, trying to shove back against Naruto, but he was in a helpless position, with Naruto pinning his entire body to the bed, and he couldn't really shove Naruto away with Naruto holding his hands down by his head with so much force that he would be able to keep the earth from splitting during an earth quake.

Naruto growled warningly before licking Sasuke's cheek, just **daring** his mate to try and get away. It was spring, he was horny, and now was a perfect time to mate. Why wouldn't it be a good time? Naruto knew from experience that his mate was rarely never in the mood, and he was insistent when he was. Well now it was his turn to be insistent, he needed to feel his mate, to be one with him.

Sasuke's skin was burning with embarrassment and even a little nervousness—though he would never admit it—as Naruto drew his tongue over his skin, leaving lines of glistening saliva along Sasuke's flesh.

Sasuke forced himself to still and just feel. Maybe Naruto would forget, or just calm down, yeah, he was enough of an idiot to be able to do that. Sasuke's fingers and toes clenched reflexively as Naruto's fangs ghosted lightly over his jawbone and neck, arousing him more with the feeling of danger literally breathing down his neck. Sasuke gasped out as Naruto began to tear at his shirt with his teeth, ripping the cloth away like it was tissue paper, and soon Naruto was sucking at his bare chest, shredded pieces of fabric littering the room around them.

Sasuke groaned and squirmed under the blonde's hold, trying to worm his way out of Naruto's grip while the blonde was preoccupied with his chest, but Naruto apparently had no intention of letting go any time soon.

"Naruto… hang on… wait…" Sasuke forced out around a grunt, trying to lean up. He gritted his teeth in exasperation as Naruto kept him firmly against the bed and settled for trying to pry the ANBU chest plate off of Naruto using his teeth. He'd never in a million years thought he would miss the obnoxious orange jumpsuit Naruto had ditched when he became an ANBU, but it would be so much easier right now to undo a zipper instead of iron clasps with his teeth.

After a while, he gave up after getting one clasp undone and moved to pull the hitai-ate hiding Naruto's beautiful golden hair off his head with his teeth and discarded it as far away as he could over the side of the bed. He wasn't going to risk being blindfolded again. It seemed that this Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi's mind speaking through Naruto, but better to be safe than blind. Naruto's soft golden blonde hair fell into his face, the forehead protector that usually kept it out of the way was gone, leaving the gorgeously unkempt locks to fall into Naruto's eyes, and Sasuke discovered that the golden matched either the red or the blue of his eyes, depending on which side Naruto was in at the moment.

All at once, Naruto let go of his wrists and sat back on Sasuke's clear arousal, both of them groaning, though Naruto's sounded more like an animalistic snarl instead of a humanoid sound.

_Maybe he just wants to ride me._ Sasuke thought in relief.

Sasuke took the opportunity of Naruto's sudden period of tranquility to undo the chest armor and pulled Naruto's shirt over his head, also throwing them as far away as he could. He ran his hands over Naruto's flawless tanned chest, which contrasted amazingly with his bright hair and red eyes. Naruto's only motion was a slow rocking over Sasuke's groin, making it harder for Sasuke to concentrate on stripping them to salvage the clothes before Naruto destroyed them by just tearing them off, like any sex-driven animal would. He already needed a new shirt, and he didn't want to have to replace the rest of his wardrobe too.

Halfway through getting all of their clothes off, Naruto apparently got tired of waiting and his claws slashed out, shredding Sasuke's pants and his own boxers to ribbons. Sasuke had been able to strip Naruto at least down to his boxers, but he was still wearing everything. Sasuke's annoyed sigh was cut short as Naruto leaned back down, pushing his shoulders down to the bed and nipped at Sasuke's nipple with his sharp teeth, eliciting a gasp from Sasuke that bled into a moan.

Sasuke tried to sit up again but Naruto pushed him back down, ramming his knee between Sasuke's legs and grinding, rendering Sasuke's brain useless from the rough, dry pleasure as he groaned loudly.

When Sasuke's brain finally restarted itself, he was able to register that Naruto was between his legs with his hips up on Naruto's legs and Naruto was positioned at his entrance. Instantly, he went rigid like a wooden board. Naruto—animalist state and all—seemed to understand his mate's uneasiness and leaned down to lick Sasuke's cheek, drawing his tongue slowly over Sasuke's skin, as if telling him that he would be alright.

Naruto had cried the first time they'd done this, and used some very colorful language he most likely picked up from Sai about the pain, but he had also told Sasuke to keep going, that he would be fine once Sasuke was in. Sasuke didn't know what it would feel like, pain, or just uncomfortable… the Kyuubi had seemed to heal Naruto pretty quickly afterwards, so there was no long term issues of Sasuke having to deal with Naruto's griping, but what about him? That last time Kyuubi had hurt him—the bite on his neck—he wasn't able to heal it and the inch-deep fang marks were still very visible in the muscle right on the side of his neck, so what about this?

Sasuke told himself to relax, remembering vaguely that he had told Naruto that their first time, and let his spine turn to rubber. He unclenched his fingers and closed his eyes, breathing deeply despite his arousal and waited. It was obvious this side of Naruto wasn't going to calm down until he relieved the need to mate—it was getting close to spring after all—so he had to relieve it this way.

Naruto was still for a moment, continuing to clean Sasuke's collarbone with his tongue. And out of nowhere, he bit down into Sasuke's neck in the exact spot the Kyuubi had bit him the second he thrust completely into Sasuke, burying himself.

Sasuke couldn't help it, his eyes rolled back into his head, and the pain was so great that he wasn't exactly sure, but he thought he screamed. He fought against Naruto's hold, shoving back on Naruto's shoulders and trying to yank away from Naruto's fangs and cock about to split him in two, but the damn Kyuubi was fucking strong.

After a while, he was able to calm down enough to feel the pain in his ass leaving, mostly due to the new pain in his reopened fang marks that were leaking a steady flow of blood. Naruto had bit him… to try and lessen the pain when he entered Sasuke.

They were frozen in time, completely motionless, molded as one with Naruto gripping Sasuke's hips in an almost crushing grasp, about to shatter his hip bone, and Sasuke's arms around Naruto's neck to the point where he could have been strangling Naruto if he wasn't protected by the demon in him.

Sasuke forced himself to breathe. In, out, in, out, and then the position got really uncomfortable, his spine was almost bent at a ninety-degree angle because of the way he was resting on Naruto and clinging to him like a lifeline.

"Move." he spat, pleading that this fox-Naruto would get the message.

Naruto moved back and slammed into Sasuke, nearly leaving him unconscious with the extra force of the Kyuubi.

_Holy…_

It felt incredible, but he wasn't able to even finish the thought as Naruto repeated the movement, and he lost function in his body, only able to feel how amazing it felt to have Naruto filling him, slamming into him like a wild animal. The dominance that Naruto apparently had but didn't show, it was a **hell** of a turn on.

The room was echoing with Sasuke's yells and cries and Naruto's growls and snarls as they both grew closer. Sasuke inwardly pitied any other person that had every had to deal with this, because Naruto was fucking rough, but the majority of him didn't give a shit, as long as Naruto didn't stop pounding him into the bed of sand.

Bed of sand… he was going to be missing some skin on his back from rubbing against it so forcefully.

His hands shot up and gripped the bars on the headboard in a death grip, bending them beyond repair as Naruto rammed into him hard enough to knock him off the edge of the world. He was aware of his yells and shouts in the air, but they felt disconnected. He was on cloud nine, floating millions of miles above the world, and nothing about this moment was anything but perfect.

…It was too bad that Naruto wouldn't remember any of this when he snapped back to his senses.

Sasuke gasped as Naruto yanked him up so he was sitting on Naruto's legs and kept pounding into him, driving him completely senseless as he gripped Naruto's shoulders like they were anchoring him to consciousness.

Sasuke's vision was blurry as he approached his climax and he felt the blood dripping down his neck and waist where Naruto's claws and fangs had torn into his skin, his lips were bruised from Naruto's forcefulness and his back was raw from being ground against the bed so hard, but he was drowning in ecstasy. He didn't feel the pain that was supposed to be there, all he could feel was Naruto slamming into him.

His vision went black for a split second, and a volcano inside of him erupted. He threw his lips against Naruto's in an attempt to muffle their screams as they came, and he was filled with something hot as Naruto roared into his mouth.

Sasuke went limp, flopping back as Naruto fell on top of him, surprisingly light despite the fact that he was as big as Sasuke now, no longer the scrawny little runt he'd been back in team seven. Their chest fell and rose in unison, Sasuke's arms still around Naruto, and Sasuke felt strangely… complete.

Naruto sighed into his chest, the scars on his cheeks shrinking as he nuzzled Sasuke's skin, making the raven shiver pleasantly. He almost forgot how horrified Naruto would be when he saw him, but quickly remembered as every muscle in Naruto's body clenched and he shot up, looking down in terror at Sasuke. Sasuke felt himself wince; the claw marks, the bite, the blood; he had to look like he'd just come out of a small-scale war with a rabid polecat.

Naruto was frozen, staring down at Sasuke, his eyes scanning over every wound in Sasuke's body before he yanked out of the raven, literally flying across the room as he scrambled back against the wall, shaking his head in almost denial.

Sasuke pushed himself up and took one step across the bed for the shivering blonde before his spine quaked with the pain of someone stabbing a thousand swords—straight out of the fire—up his ass. He gasped and his knees buckled, but he managed to catch himself with his hands before he cracked his head open on the ground.

He forced his hands to drag him forward, moving his legs as little as possible to crawl across the floor to the shaking boy. He would **never** mock Naruto ever again for being sore after sex.

"Naruto." His hand reached up, stroking the soft, warm cheek, covered in new tear tracks.

"I'm sorry." Naruto croaked, trying to push away from him again back into the wall. "I-I tried… I didn't want…"

"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke forced himself onto his knees and pulled Naruto into a tight hug. "I would have fried you with the chidori if I didn't want that."

Naruto drew in a sharp breath, his body quaking with silent sobs and guilt.

"But… we have to do that sometime when you're actually in your right mind." Sasuke said quietly.

That made Naruto stop. He looked up curiously at Sasuke, his sky blue eyes boring into Sasuke's onyx ones as he tried to convince himself that Sasuke was telling the truth and not just trying to make him feel better.

"Really?" he squeaked.

"Yes Dobe." Sasuke winced as he tried to sit down, and eventually settled for just kneeling. Who needs to sit anyway? Unfortunately, Naruto saw the flinch.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" he asked smugly, looking slyly up at Sasuke. "And what do you think about the times you want to do it more than once?"

Sasuke felt himself cringe again just from imagining it.

"That's different, moron," he scoffed, "the fox heals you, I don't have that advantage. Also, you didn't prepare me, so yes, it hurt like a bitch."

Naruto laughed smugly before wrapping his hands around Sasuke's waist and hoisting him off the ground.

"I'm not a cripple!" Sasuke barked as Naruto carried him over to the bed, but when he tried to struggle, he accidentally jerked his leg, and the swords stabbed him again, making him arch his back with a loud hiss.

Naruto put him on the bed and moved to spoon him. "It doesn't hurt as much if your body's bent like this." He said, fixing the blankets around them.

Sasuke took a deep breath, and realized just how fucking exhausted he was. He couldn't have gotten more than two hours of sleep when he fell asleep earlier, meaning that he hadn't slept for a good seven days. He was going to kill the next person who woke him up and he dared someone to test him and see if he was kidding. Naruto was the exception; he would just permanently break the blonde's legs so he could never walk again.

Next Day

Naruto awoke to the quiet room and the sun gleaming in through the small window, and from how low it was on the horizon, Naruto guessed that it was early, no later than three thirty in the morning. He sat up carefully, looking down over Sasuke's sleeping face. He couldn't help the smirk that quickly followed, Sasuke looked calm, not hurt or betrayed in any way.

The raven was lying on Naruto's arm, his pale arm draped over Naruto's waist in a half hug. Naruto had never met someone who literally did **not** move when they slept, and then Sasuke came along. Naruto was positive Sasuke had fallen asleep like that, with Naruto lying on his back, his arm under Sasuke and holding the raven close, Sasuke lying on his stomach as he laid his arm over Naruto's waist. He didn't look sad, or hurt that Naruto had done that…

_Thank god._ Naruto sighed loudly and looked around the room, scouring it for every bit of damage that he had caused. The most prominent thing was not any holes in the walls or giant hunks of flesh on the floor like there would have normally been when Naruto went into the Kyuubi stage, but the clothes. Or, he should say, the remnants of what had been clothes last night. Sure, the blood was noticeable, as were the claw and teeth marks in Sasuke's flawless—err, what **had been** flawless skin, but the shredded pieces of cloth covered the room like a layer of snow.

_Wow, I must have been __**really**__ horny when I went to bed to make me that frantic and out of control. Duh I could feel it, but I don't remember being that turned on… I know I didn't fall asleep, so what even happened?_ It was too bad he didn't remember a damn thing about last night.

Naruto peeled the covers away, draping them back over Sasuke as he looked for something to cover his body. It seemed Sasuke had been able to salvage his ANBU shirt and chest plate, along with his hitai-ate—the most important part of his disguise while hiding here—but he couldn't find anything else…

_Oh wait._

He bent down and brushed away the sand that had been disheveled from the floor during some sort of scuffle last night. It looked like someone had been thrown back, and **hard**, and Naruto had a hunch that it wasn't him. Beneath the sand he unearthed his pants, picking them up and silently shaking them free of the grit, watching Sasuke the whole time to make sure he didn't wake the raven. It was a rarity that he woke up before Sasuke, so the Uchiha must have been outrageously tired. Naruto wasn't even sure when he'd slept last, it took a few days to get to Suna, even running the whole way, and Naruto knew with a grimace that Sasuke wouldn't have slept the whole way. Naruto looked a little more at the scraps of clothing before determining one thing: Sasuke had no more clothes. The thought made him smirk to himself.

Then, to top it off, Sasuke had fought with Gaara right off the bat, and then Naruto hadn't let him sleep for more than two hours before the damn Kyuubi and his thrice damned mating season urges had kicked in so hard and fast that he couldn't stop them. He remembered Sasuke leaning in, his hands on either side of Naruto's head against the walls, and how hot he felt, and then everything went into a red blur. He couldn't remember anything beyond that.

After searching a little bit more for his boxers, and then finally giving up when his search proved fruitless, he pulled on his pants, shirt and chest plate, heading over for the door where his ANBU mask and sandals were sitting along side his cloak and Ninjato. He tied the sword over his back and stepped into his shoes as he slid his mask on, deciding to leave the cloak behind because of the heat in the desert. He tied his hitai-ate over his hair, making sure to hide all of his golden hair before ducking silently out the door.

Naruto stretched with the first rays of the morning, looking around to the other people waking with the birds of Suna and couldn't help but smile. Everyone looked so… at peace here, so unlike the disarray Konoha had been in. His smile sank a little at the memories he'd seen of the Village of the Hidden Leaf, but he refused to let it disappear even though no one could see his face as he walked down the busy streets of Suna.

Some people turned to give him a curious glance, but none of them staring long enough to harbor distrust or annoyance toward him, something that he basked in, as that was what the villagers from Konoha had always treated him with.

The smell of ramen caught his nose and he instantly veered for it, grinding to a halt in the middle of the street as he realized what a dead giveaway that would be for him. He would have some brought to their room later by the maids Gaara had sworn to secrecy.

Naruto turned back to the street, taking in all of the sights and surroundings of Suna as he walked, his arms loose by his side. It had been months since he'd felt this relaxed, and he wasn't about to pass up the chance to just lay back and breathe.

Spying a clothing shop on one of the streets, his conscience kicked in and he remembered the scraps of what had been clothes littering their floor and he raced into it, stepping up to the counter and smiling at the girl even though he knew she couldn't see him with the mask on.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely, her hands twitching and fiddling with the pens on the counter nervously. It must have been one of her first times working here, Naruto concluded.

"Can you tell me what size I am?"

"Hmm…" her eyes scanned up and down his form, running over the hip width, shoulders and height before she blurted out, "five feet seven sir, a medium or large should fit you."

"Ok, thanks." He smiled brightly, gliding over to the clothes rack where the mediums were hung, trying not to get freaked out by just how **fast** she had done that. Sasuke was about an inch taller than him, but he was also… **lankier** than he was, so anything that was a little too tall and a little too tight on him should fit Sasuke.

Naruto pulled everything black and navy off the shelf, knowing that Sasuke would castrate him if he brought home something in his own taste, and ducked into the dressing room, yanking off his clothes as he pulled the first things on.

By the end of the hour (because of his ANBU speed), Naruto had one navy cloak, two navy shirts, one pair of black pants, black sandals, black forearm protectors and black chest armor. He just hoped that Sasuke wouldn't be too picky like usual about his clothing and appearance (Naruto had caught him on more than one occasion fixing his hair so it stayed out the right way, you can't hide anything from an ANBU) and would just wear the stupid clothes. He'd chosen different color armor from the Konoha ANBU uniform, knowing that Sasuke would hate that too—no matter how much it made Naruto sad—but the only other color had been black, so he hoped Sasuke would have sense enough to stay in the shade or have a heat stroke.

"Ooh!" he skipped over to a vegetable stand, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't be a prick this morning for what happened last night. **The **Sasuke Uchiha? **Bottoming**? Naruto might save Sasuke the trouble and just commit ritual suicide.

Later

Sasuke groaned and refrained from stretching, knowing that he would **really **feel it later if he did. He pushed away the covers to inspect his injuries. Yep, his entire waist was black and blue and his thighs weren't in much better shape.

Crossing his fingers, he reached down, chakra enveloping his hand and ran it over his bruised skin, letting out a relieved breath when it began to heal. He traced over the claw marks in his hips and the moved up to the fang marks in his neck, which were starting to get irritated and ooze something. But unlike all of his other wounds, instead of his skin warming with the chakra, his neck stayed cold. Sasuke's brow furrowed and he walked over to the basin of water that had been left there so he could wash, looking at the puncture marks in the reflection. He touched the red, irritated skin, wincing at the sharp stabbing pain. He ran his hand with the healing chakra over the wound again, but while the skin around the wound healed slowly but surely, there was some sort of chakra in the wound from the bite, preventing it from being healed. It just pushed his chakra away.

Sasuke sighed in annoyance, looking back to Naruto's absence in the bed and the neat pile of clothes sitting at its foot that he hadn't noticed earlier. On top of the pile were armor, a tomato, a few rice balls, and a pomegranate from a desert pomegranate tree.

Sasuke walked over and picked the fruit up, tearing the flesh of the tomato in two and popping half in his mouth, relishing in the water it gave his dry mouth. He ate the rice balls next while he dressed.

_All black and navy? What does he think I am, __**emo**__? I'm going to have a __**heat stroke**__ in these things!_ But despite that—and eager to find Naruto, though he would never admit it—he pulled the clothes on, grateful at least that they fit him.

Sasuke fixed the chest plate and forearm protectors, and tied his sword on his waist, finishing of the tomato. He picked up the pomegranate and headed for the door, slipping unnoticed to the rooftops, where he looked around him.

On the way into Suna, despite the fact that it had been night, Sasuke had noticed a small grove of desert trees in the distance, where a desert pomegranate had been, and spotting it in the distance, he sped towards it, making sure to mask his chakra enough so no one would see or sense him.

He slowed as he approached, knowing that it would be a long shot if he snuck up on Naruto when the blonde had the Kyuubi's senses, but it was worth a try.

Naruto was standing on the top branch of the tree, leaning calmly against the trunk with his eyes closed. The tree—a good 200 feet—had adapted from the short rural pomegranate tree to get full sunlight even with other trees around it, and now towered over the rest.

Sasuke stepped quietly up the side of the tree, moving to lean against the tree next to Naruto on the five-foot wide branch.

Naruto's eyes opened slowly and he stared up at the clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight.

"Are you mad?" he asked finally.

Sasuke didn't answer, and instead, took Naruto's hand in his own, looking up at the sky with him.

"Remember when I said we needed to do it again when you knew what you were doing?"

Naruto's eyes popped open in shock and he flipped away from Sasuke, shimmying up to the edge of the branch. Sasuke sighed in annoyance, the idiot was afraid to hurt him. He shoved away from the trunk, daring Naruto to run away with his glare as he approached him.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arms and held him still while he slammed his lips over the blonde's, smirking in triumph at Naruto's throaty moan. Slowly, he reversed their positions, turning Naruto around and backing him into the trunk. He held Naruto forcefully against the tree and ravaged his neck and lips, slowly ripping of his clothes and draping them over the tree. Naruto's brain seemed to jumpstart itself after a while and he moved to take Sasuke's chest armor and shirt off so they would both attack each other with their tongues in turn.

Naruto pulled Sasuke back up away from his chest and slammed their lips together, tongues battling between their lips and saliva sliding down their chins, their tops bare and clothes out of the way.

Naruto knelt and shoved Sasuke's pants down, throwing them away when Sasuke stepped out of them; Sasuke shivered slightly at the wind at that altitude. Naruto grasped Sasuke's hip and took his length all at once in his mouth. Sasuke gasped as the world spun and his hands shot out, bracing himself against the tree so he wouldn't fall.

This was so different from riding Naruto, Naruto's tongue working over him and driving him almost to the edge right there. Sasuke pulled away with a growl, calling on his self-reservation skills like his life depended on it.

He tore away the rest of Naruto's clothes, throwing them into the pile and pushed Naruto back so he was lying on his back and then moved to straddle his hip. Naruto seemed to get a little uneasy with their reversed positions, as he would normally be the one doing this, but it was quickly forgotten as Sasuke kissed him. Naruto flung his hands around Sasuke's neck and pulled him flat against his chest. Somewhere along the way, Naruto managed to pull one of their shirts under them so they wouldn't tear off their skin on the bark of the tree, but how he had without Sasuke even noticing, Sasuke had no idea.

One of Naruto's hands pulled away from Sasuke's shoulders, dragging a nail down Sasuke's spine and making the raven shiver. Naruto looked up at Sasuke once to make sure, waiting until Sasuke nodded before sliding a finger into him. Sasuke shuddered again, a moan escaping his throat at the feeling of something inside of him, it was different yes, but in no way unlikable and it was no where near as painful as taking Naruto all at once last night. He was quickly deciding that their relationship would become versatile, and not just with specific top and bottom roles. Even at three fingers, it still didn't hurt, and he was inwardly grateful about last night preparing him for this.

"Stop." He ground out after a while, and grabbed Naruto's length—smirking at Naruto's gasp—and positioning him above Naruto. Naruto stiffened a little apprehensively and Sasuke felt sort of amused that it was Naruto instead of him that was nervous.

He adjusted his knees on the cloth and slowly sat down, the tip of Naruto's manhood pushing into him. They gasped in unison, and now this **was** uncomfortable, but Sasuke kept going down until his was sitting on Naruto's waist with his shins flat against the tree. Sasuke's eyes were closed as he looked up at the sky, breathing deeply until his body adjusted to the intrusion. His eyes opened and he looked down at Naruto, who had gone into a catatonic state.

"Breathe." Sasuke smacked him, jolting Naruto back into reality so he moved unconsciously in Sasuke, making them both groan again. Naruto gripped the shirt beneath them and slowly pushed up as Sasuke moved above him.

Sasuke groaned, bracing his hands on the bark to move faster, his stamina allowing him to go like this a lot longer than other people, but soon his knees started to go numb.

Naruto flipped them just in time, pushing Sasuke off of him and hanging one of their ANBU jackets over a little knot in the tree. Sasuke got the hint quickly and pulled Naruto against him with his back up against the tree and wrapped his legs around Naruto's waist. Naruto slammed back into him, finally—but not soon enough for Sasuke—taking up the same dominance he'd had last night.

The jacket was enough protection against the rough tree bark on his back, but he doubted whether or not he would have even felt the tree behind him with Naruto slamming into him like a jackhammer.

Again, his vision blurred, and his grip was leaving bruises on Naruto's shoulders, but neither of them felt anything but the ecstasy. The last thought Sasuke had before cumming was that he hoped Naruto didn't black out, because he was the one supporting both of them. They both screamed, Sasuke again muffling it with their lips smashed together as he was again filled with something hot that made him release again.

Naruto sank slowly to the branch, leaning against Sasuke with his head on Sasuke's shoulders, his panting heating up Sasuke's already burning skin. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck, his head resting against the tree, his legs limply draped over Naruto's.

Slowly, they peeled themselves apart and cleaned up, dressing in very close proximity to each other and never moving more than two feet apart for the next few minutes. Sasuke moved to sit against the tree and Naruto plunked down in between his legs, resting his back against Sasuke's chest and laying his head back on the raven's shoulder.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sasuke asked lightly, making Naruto laugh and nuzzle into him. Naruto looked to the right abruptly, his eyes trained on something in the distance that Sasuke couldn't even sense yet, but after a while, someone's chakra became noticeable running across the desert. Naruto twitched in apprehension and Sasuke's hand drifted to the sword at his hip.

A ninja in chunin garb jumped up onto the branch, bowing as he held out a letter, a sheet of paper and a pen. "Lord Kazekage sent me to deliver this to you, he said he received it from the Hokage from Konoha, and he would like your response."

"How did you find us?" Naruto asked, detangling himself from Sasuke's protective hold and moving to take the note.

The chunin let out an out-of-breath chuckle. "It wasn't easy, I've been looking all morning."

Naruto ripped open the seal and unfolded the note as the chunin stayed motionless, waiting for the response.

"Lord Kazekage Gaara," Naruto read quietly, "during a recent mission passing through your country, one of my Jounin reported sensing chakra of Sasuke Uchiha. Because of recent events in our village with the Uchiha, I have reasons to believe that Naruto is staying in the Hidden Village of the Sand. I am writing you to ask you to send Naruto back to Konoha. I have no doubt that if he is with you that he is uninjured and completely safe, but we all miss Naruto here and would like him to return. I am willing to work with Naruto on his chakra control if that is the reason he hasn't yet returned, and the council believes that it is best that he is in a village where we can keep him safe from Akatsuki. I am not insinuating that you are unable to protect him from his enemies, but simply passing on the message the council asked me to relay. Best, Godaime Hokage Tsunade. And then Gaara says: Naruto, I can write back and tell her to go fuck herself, in politer terms of course,"—Naruto laughed lightly at this—"but I thought you might want to write her. I can also tell her that the Uchiha thought you were here, but moved on after learning that you weren't if you still want to stay hidden here."

Naruto suspended the piece of blank paper in mid air and uncapped the pen, scribbling his message back on it.

Sasuke deadpanned. _I thought he couldn't do that because of his chakra. _"I thought your chakra control was crap."

Naruto paused for a minute before continuing writing. "It came back when…" he trailed off suddenly, his writing speed picking up.

"When?" Sasuke prompted, stepping up behind Naruto to read what Naruto had written.

"…After I came here because of Orochimaru." Naruto said quickly, his writing getting even faster. The chunin shifted nervously at the suddenly tense atmosphere.

Sasuke didn't press the matter after that and just read the note over Naruto's shoulder.

_Old hag,_

_Thanks for your note, but I don't want to come back to Konoha yet._

_My chakra's good now, I don't know why, but it is, and I'm happy living out here with Sasuke._

_I know the council doesn't like me, and I know they don't like Sasuke even more, and I want to stay with Sasuke, they wont want us both back in the village unless at least one of us is dead._

_We'll be staying in Suna for some time now, and I don't know when I'll come back, but I know it won't be without Sasuke._

_Tell Kakashi, Sakura and Sai hi, and that maybe we'll cross paths on a mission some time._

_Stay young, and I'll see you some time in the near future unless old age kills you first._

_Naruto _

"You have a death wish, calling her old like that while she's frantic about you. She almost tore my throat out in the hospital when I said I didn't know where you were."

Naruto laughed and folded up the note again, slipping it into the envelope with Tsunade's note and handing it back to the chunin. "Can you tell Gaara thank you?"

The chunin bowed again and stood, jumping to the ground and racing back to Konoha.

Naruto laughed again, scratching the back of his head. "I hope she doesn't kill Shizune if she gets too mad."

"Dobe." Sasuke rolled his eyes, jumping to the ground.

"Hey!" Naruto barked, leaping down behind him and tackling him before he could blink.

Sand flew up around them as they wrestled, mostly just trying to pin the other to the ground, and soon Sasuke had Naruto's waist straddled and the blonde's hand pinned up by his head. Naruto huffed, looking away childishly, making Sasuke smirk. He leaned down and kissed Naruto's cheek lightly.

"You don't want to go back without me?"

Naruto blushed the color of the pomegranates, looking pointedly at a suddenly very interesting rock about two feet away from his head, and in the complete opposite direction of Sasuke's face.

"Well…!" he spluttered in embarrassment. "I mean… you can't pretend nothing's happening between us!"

Sasuke chuckled, leaning in to kiss Naruto's cheek lightly. "And I don't want to."


	12. You Want To Go Home, Don't You?

I don't own anything but my ideas.

"If you don't like yaoi, something is wrong with you," ~Anonymous

You Want To Go Home, Don't You?

_**That was easier than expected. I must admit—though it makes me sound like a mortal idiot—I thought the kit and the Uchiha were over. **_

_**The kit left the Uchiha after the snake man attacked them, for which I had to give the kit back his chakra control unless I wanted him killed and so I can't pretend that it isn't very good because of him anymore, and the Uchiha was taken back to the leaf village. **_

_**It surprises me that the old bat running that fool of a place still won't get that she needs to lock the Uchiha up using all of the chakra sealing objects as well as people and have him guarded by half the Jounin and all of the ANBU without a break for a minimum of twenty four years. And yet, even though he was supposedly sealed in the hospital, he still managed to break away again.**_

_**Useless old witch, if it had been up to me, I would have torn the Uchiha limb from limb. But because of the Uchiha's clever comment about my visits to the outside world during his sleep, the kit hasn't slept since and I haven't had the means to communicate with the outside after that.**_

_**The kit's pregnancy symptoms have been kept to a minimum as of late because of my containment in the body we are now merged in, meaning that my chakra has no other use at the moment besides caring for the kit and trying to keep him from any pain or discomfort during this, however, there are things that come along with pregnancy that I can not control. I can reduce the symptoms for as long as I can, but even the strongest dams must break after holding back too much water.**_

_**As I have said before, when the symptoms hit the kit, they will hit him hard and fast, and after a while, the build up of times that I have held back natural things must break through. As a child, and even now, it was easy to shield the kit from illness and disease, as well as most injuries because they are inflicted from outside of the body and are—for lack of a better description—foreign.**_

_**Pregnancy symptoms however, which come along naturally with pregnancy—another naturally occurring thing if the body has a womb (which the kit now has)—are not foreign to the body because the body is designed to deal with these to be able to hold and nurture the child. And due to the fact that they are created inside the body, I am unable to block them out like an illness, the most I can do is try and hinder them as long as possible before they break through the dam.**_

_**If it was a human child with a regular womb, which would be possible if the kit was a girl and I wouldn't have had to build a womb for him out of my chakra, then I would be able to hold back the symptoms and release them slowly so they came neither fast nor slow, but over time and most likely during sleep so as to not hurt the carrier, but it is the combination of my chakra creating the womb and the fact that the infant will have two biological fathers that are equally strong that creates the issue. Because of how strong my chakra is already, mixed with the kit's and the Uchiha's, which makes up the force of the pregnancy and the symptoms, it would be physically impossible for me to hold it back and release them slowly over time unless I wanted the kit to explode with the physical pressure of the chakra buildup so they will come and hit him hard when they do, regardless of how I try to hold them back.**_

_**At first, when the kit was leaving the Uchiha in the burning clearing with the people of the leaf, I considered forcibly breaking free and marching him right back, but after I was able to finally make sense of his rage and distress overridden thoughts, I was able to pick out of the need to kill and the need of the Uchiha and the need to be alone that he was going to see the old Shukaku carrier.**_

_**Originally I would have put my foot down there, the carrier is far too unstable and Shukaku is much more unstable than the human, making them both equally dangerous to be around for anyone, let alone the child the kit is carrying. However, after the sand child had died and been brought back to life due to the removal of the lumbering oaf some have the gall to call a demon, it was easier for me to let the kit go to him. Also, due to the fact that the sand had not severed its ties with the sand carrier even without the presence of the Shukaku, further strengthening both the chakra of the human and the bond with the sand and making him one of the strongest ninja in all of Suna. Even without the Uchiha it was obvious that the kit would be protected and kept safe—even from himself.**_

_**Then, the Uchiha again hunts down the kit's sorry ass and again they take each other back. Sooner or later, one of them is going to be sick enough of the other to not want to pity the other and take him back, but until then, it seems that the child will have two fathers, a demon half father, and possibly a deranged uncle just recovering from a serious insomniac disorder. I have no doubt in my mind that between the four of us, if not at least three, we will be able to keep the child the kit is carrying alive until it is old enough to be on its own.**_

_**It is unfortunate that the struggle for the child will be the hardest for the kit. The pregnancy symptoms aren't the worst part; he and the Uchiha will be up against the world to keep this child.**_

XXX

Sasuke ran his hand across Naruto's forehead again, trying to soothe the boy, but mostly checking to make sure his temperature hadn't gone up anymore. Heat probably wasn't that dangerous with the Kyuubi's element, but Naruto was still human, whether or not the Kyuubi was a demon of fire.

Naruto moaned, flopping over on his side in a futile struggle to find a comfortable position. He was stripped to his boxers, and giant holes had been punched in the walls of sand for cross breeze, but Naruto's core body heat seemed to rise by the second.

Sasuke dunked his hand in the water again and ran it over Naruto's head and through his blonde hair, trying to ignore the way the water evaporated off of Naruto's body. Salt was dried on his peeling skin from the sweat that had evaporated and flaking off every time he moved, and Naruto had already soaked four sets of sheets with sweat and was quickly working through his fifth.

Naruto looked pale, and weak. Frail was something Naruto never looked until now, and Sasuke was still fuming at the fact that Naruto refused under all circumstances to let him into his mind to see the Kyuubi again.

Gaara walked into the room like his feet were on fire, a terrified but promising looking medical ninja trailing behind him, cowering at the condensed volume of chakra in the confined space.

The doctor's eyes traced up and down Naruto's blistering body and they way he was a little too close to being delirious with the heat before reaching into his medical pouch and approaching Naruto. Sasuke forced the protectiveness in him to a low boil and let the doctor check Naruto's heart beat and breathing with the stethoscope before pulling out a few vials of medicine. The doctor's hand, enveloped in a swirling green chakra, ran over the length of Naruto's body and Sasuke again forced a territorial snarl back down his throat.

"Uchiha."

Sasuke turned to Gaara's voice, his hand lingering on Naruto's waist a second longer before he rose to follow the Kazekage out of the room.

"Well?" he demanded in a clipped tone, his hands in tight fists by his side.

Gaara remained silent, staring back into the room and watching Naruto panting and moaning in his sleep. Sasuke was going to hit something. If he didn't get some answers right fucking now—

"I think it has something to do with the Kyuubi." Gaara cut off his train of thought, speaking without warning. "And that he doesn't want you in his mind because if his outer body temperature is well over 115 degrees, then the area near the Kyuubi must be as hot as the sun."

"But why is he sick in the first place?" Sasuke snarled through clenched teeth, his fists starting too shake.

"…I can't say. Something has changed for the fox to not be able to heal him. Sleeping? Lazy? I don't know, I didn't have the Kyuubi in my mind, I had a demon that refused to rest for a second, therefore I have never experienced this."

The Sharingan whirled, trying to unconsciously burn off some of Sasuke's anger without taking it out on Gaara.

_Stop. Talking. In. Fucking. __**Riddles**__._

Sasuke's head whipped back to the door at the sound of Naruto throwing up again into the bucket by the side of his bed and he was instantly numb instead of angry. He couldn't place the feeling. What the hell was it? It sure as hell wasn't anger… what was it?

"Sir?"

Sasuke and Gaara looked back to the doctor, poking his head through the door and sporting a very large and new bruise below his left eye.

"I, um…" he began slowly, "he needs some Calcium, as well as Folic Acid and Iron, but due to his condition oral dosage is impossible. I tried with the syringe, but"—the doctor gestured to his eye—"his reflexes are still strong."

Gaara nodded slowly before turning back to Sasuke, seeming to evaluate him.

"Does Naruto recognize you, or will he hurt you like this?"

"He might try, but he hasn't beaten me yet." Sasuke stalked back into the room, eyeing the large needle in the doctor's hand warily.

He sat down at the edge of Naruto's bed and pushed Naruto's hair back again, dipping his hand in the water by the bed and trying again to cool down Naruto's head.

"…S…Sasuke…?" Naruto ground out, his hand trying weakly to lift and reach Sasuke's pale one. Sasuke met him halfway, taking his blistering hand in one of his and placing his other on the back of Naruto's neck.

"Keep it there." Naruto gasped, desperately out of breath. "Feels… good… cool…"

"Naruto, the doctor needs to give you a shot, don't attack him, alright?"

"…Did I…?" Naruto looked confused. He didn't even remember hitting the poor doctor.

"Don't talk, you need to save your energy." The doctor stepped up to the bed, laying out eight more needles of different sizes across the bedside table, making nine in total. Sasuke felt his blood run cold; this man could all too easily poison Naruto like this, and if the Kyuubi couldn't even heal Naruto when he was just sick, how was he going to get rid of poisons in Naruto's system?

"S…Sorry." Naruto ground out, leaning into Sasuke's cool hand.

"Don't worry, one of my last delirious patients thought I was their dead arch enemy and ended up breaking my leg." The doctor smiled lightly, not helping with Sasuke's distrust in the slightest. He was just a little too happy for dealing with a jinchuuriki.

The doctor reached for the alcohol swabs but ended up putting them back, muttering something about alcohol being flammable and just picked up a vial labeled 'folic acid'. He stuck the needle through the top and tipped the bottle upside down, filling the syringe half full.

"Isn't that a lot?" Sasuke snapped.

"This is accounting for the amount his body will burn off because of his temperature." The doctor explained, lifting Naruto's arm gently. Sasuke forced himself not to attack as the needle slid into Naruto's flesh, but Naruto seemed so out of it, Sasuke doubt he even felt it.

The next liquids the doctor gave Naruto were labeled calcium, iron, riboflavin, niacin, a mixture of vitamins A through E, pyridoxine, proteins and zinc. Now it was getting weird. Naruto was sick… so he needed **vitamins**?

The doctor backed away from the bed with all of his things, warily watching Sasuke, who seemed even more dangerous than Naruto's unstable chakra when he got protective.

"Well?" Gaara asked quietly, making sure they were out of earshot of Sasuke.

"Well, physically, it just seems like he has the flu."

"The **flu**?" Gaara half snapped, looking over at Naruto again. No, people with the flu were not drenching sheets in sweat like this or this delirious. Naruto looked like he had one foot and three toes in the grave, he did **not** just have the flu.

"Along with a combination of other things." The doctor compensated quickly. "Because of his… **condition**," the doctor's voice dipped sharply, making Gaara strain for what the man said as they talked about the pregnancy, "his body has been using up its nutrients for the… for the… **child**. He's extremely low on iron especially, which can account for how weak he is as well as being delusional. My guess is that because of the demon, his low iron levels—which would normally just result in dizziness—are taken to the next level because his body temperature is burning it off so much quicker than normal. Iron is also used in vein and blood development for the fetus, so not only is his body burning it off, but from the already low iron that he has, some of it is being used for the growth of the fetus."

Gaara stayed silent, and the man took it as his cue to continue.

"I don't know how long until he recovers, but he should be taking regular doses of the nutrients he and the child will need for at least the nine months. My guess is that after the birth and the chakra womb is no longer in use, his body temperatures will drop back to normal, but he'll want to take doses for a few months after to be sure anyway. Naruto is healthy other than that."

"And the…?"

"Yes, we should do an ultrasound as well, I tried to do one over at the bed, but there's something blocking it from view, and I can't see anything."

"The fox." Gaara said flatly, no emotion present in his voice.

"Yes, but… the Uchiha…"

"The Uchiha is too protective to leave Naruto alone long enough to give him a full run over, we wont do that. Do not speak of this to anyone." Gaara ordered, walking back over to the bedside. The doctor nodded quickly and vanished on the spot, not wanting to hang around when Gaara was already on edge because of how sick Naruto was.

Sasuke placed both of his hands on either side of Naruto's neck, doing his best to cool the blonde down. Naruto groaned and squirmed on the bed. His eyes shot open suddenly and he threw his head over the side of the bed, emptying his stomach again into the bucket. Sasuke helped him back up, laying him gently on the pillow that was quickly becoming as wet with Naruto's sweat as if someone had thrown it in the river.

"I'm… not going to die… am I?" Naruto laughed weakly.

"It's nothing that life threatening." Gaara crossed his arms, standing over them. "It's the flu, the doctor thinks you're reacting this badly because you've never had the flu before."

Naruto easily understood the silent message from Gaara. _"We can't talk about it with the Uchiha here."_

"…Tired…" Naruto whimpered, rolling over on the bed again flinging his arm over his eyes. "…Bright…"

Sand instantly swirled up and closed over the windows, blocking out all light and outside sound going into the room.

"…Sasuke… I want to… talk to Gaara…" Naruto breathed, uncovering his eyes to look at Sasuke, who nodded after a moment and stepped out of the room, keeping extremely close to the door just incase. It was some feeling… what the hell was it? This was going to drive him crazy!

Gaara watched the door for another moment before turning back to Naruto. "You do have the flu, but your nutrients are low. Your body's burning them off and the baby's using them, leaving you with too little. You have to take doses of them for the next nine months."

"…Shots? …How are we going to tell the doctors…?"

"You can take pills, you just couldn't today because you're falling in and out of being delirious."

Naruto nodded slowly, his eyes trained on the door. He couldn't sense Sasuke listening, just waiting, but it was better to be safe. Sasuke couldn't know about this yet.

"…What's… with Sasuke? He's really… edgy…"

Gaara sniffed in distaste. "He cares about you. He'll try to hide it, either that or he's to much of a social retard to even notice it in himself, but it's obvious anyway."

Naruto smiled weakly, rolling over to the cool side of the bed.

"The Kyuubi is blocking us from getting a full ultrasound, but we can't do it here because it takes a few people to run the machinery, and it can't be known that you're here. Everyone that has seen you has been sworn to secrecy."

Naruto nodded again, wiping the sweat off of his brow and trying to get a lung full of oxygen through his hyperventilating. "Damn fox…" he ground out.

Gaara smirked for the first time that day. "Be happy that he gave you this… miracle or whatever you want to call it, or the Uchiha would be leaving you for some girl to repopulate his clan the second you weren't sick."

Naruto stiffened visibly and Gaara laughed.

Two Days Later

Sasuke stepped silently through the pitch-black room at the pace of a snail so as not to alert Naruto's hyper senses. It had taken two days, but his fever had finally gone down and he had been able to fall asleep, and Sasuke was going to die before waking him up.

"Sasuke?"

_Fuck. I woke him._

"I'm here." He whispered, laying down against Naruto's back.

Naruto sighed and nuzzled backwards into Sasuke, wrapping the blanket firmer around him. After his fever had dipped, the heat in his body had instantly turned to freezing temperatures and now Naruto couldn't get warm.

"Naruto."

"…Yeah?"

"…I'm taking you back to Konoha."

Sasuke could practically hear Naruto's head fitting all the pieces together.

"What?" Naruto shrieked, trying to shoot up, but Sasuke—having had expected this—was prepared to tighten his grip around Naruto's waist, immobilizing him, but that didn't stop Naruto from struggling.

"No way in hell, bastard!" Naruto roared, fighting like a wild animal against Sasuke's hold and the now tangled blankets around him. "You think you can just dump me in the hospital there and I'll stay? I broke out once already! Like hell you're just leaving me there!"

"Naru—"

"You promised!" Naruto twisted around (though Sasuke had no idea how he did it) and grabbed Sasuke's front with his hands, shaking Sasuke viciously.

"Naruto!" Sasuke snapped, grabbing Naruto's wrists and forcing him back against the bed. "Just shut up and let me finish! I'm taking you back to Konoha—"

"No you're not!"

"—And I'm staying there with you!"

Naruto blinked.

"…What?"

He looked as if he were going to break out in bliss filled song, but his expression suddenly switched to skeptical and accusing.

"You're going to bring me back and pretend to stay, and then disappear after Tsunade's got the whole ANBU team watching me, aren't you?" he snapped.

"I'm not—"

"Well forget it!" Naruto barked, thrashing against his hold again. "I'm not that stupid Teme! You think I'm still as gullible as when we were in team seven, but you haven't known me for years and I'm—"

"I'm not lying! Idiot—"

Naruto's head suddenly snapped up and smashed against Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke flipped back off the bed, gripping his head and trying to get his vision straight. Naruto could give a **hell** of a headbutt.

Naruto tackled him, cracking his head against the floor as they rolled around.

"Listen to me Dobe!" Sasuke yelled before Naruto's knee planted itself firmly into his gut.

"So you can tell me more crap? I'm sick and you telling me the worst things I've heard in my life—"

"I'm telling you the fucking truth!" Sasuke managed to flip them again, pinning Naruto to the ground as he tried to get out what he hadn't been able to.

"Dobe! I'm taking you back to Konoha, and you're going to the goddamn hospital there where they can actually treat you without having to hide you and them I'm moving back into my goddamn house! You've wanted this since I left, why the hell are you so against it now?"

Naruto stopped struggling and looked up at Sasuke, staring deeply into his eyes.

_He's reading my eyes for the lie. Dobe, it __**isn't**__ a lie._

"…You're serious?" Naruto said finally.

"One thousand percent Usuratonkachi."

"You're really, truly, honestly telling the truth?" Naruto asked, not daring to believe it.

"Yes Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke roared, cut off as he was thrown back suddenly into the wall, Naruto strangling him in a vice grip hug.

"You're coming back with me?" Naruto breathed into his chest. "You're going to move back into your home? You're going to stay?" he squeaked.

"Yeah." Sasuke sighed. "You're going to end up hurting yourself again if you stay away… it's not just been the Kyuubi that's been keeping you from the village, is it?"

"…What?"

"It's been me too." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. And Naruto wasn't denying it.

"Tell Gaara Dobe, and I'll try and find a shirt that isn't black so I don't have a heat stroke while we're walking there."

"Ok!" Naruto yelled happily, bounding to the window and leaping gracefully out, though it made Sasuke wince to see it. Even Naruto's movements were becoming more fox-like.

Sasuke peeled off his armor, which was only making him hotter, and stuffed it in the bag he'd managed to convince Naruto to get so they wouldn't have to carry everything. With the navy cloak, navy shirt, black pants and black sandals he was already hotter than the sand in the desert during summer, he didn't need the black chest plate and forearm protectors bogging him down too.

But at the store, as he was looking through all of the lighter colored clothing at the store, his eyes kept drifting back to the navy clothing. It was to be expected almost, he'd worn navy clothing all his life because of the Uchiha colors.

Sasuke sighed, stepping over to the darker color clothing rack. Naruto had picked out a long sleeved shirt for him already, so in an effort to stay moderately cooler, he picked out two of the more usual ANBU clothing: a high-neck sleeveless shirt, one navy and one black, and then he picked out one pair of black and one pair of navy gloves, the ones that were worn under the arm guards. Naruto had forgotten to get those, and when Sasuke wore the armguards he always pushed his sleeves up to the elbows for better mobility, and the metal heated up in the sun so by the end of the day, his skin was literally blistering from the heat.

He handed the girl the money, pointedly ignoring the flirtatious looks she gave him and stalked out of the store, halfway pissed off at himself for not getting something more suitable for the hot Suna weather.

"Navy and black gloves and a navy and black shirt? I never knew you were so picky about matching you clothing."

Sasuke's head snapped up to the voice. Naruto was perched on the top of the building, his ANBU mask pushed off to the side and up a little, showing his face. Sasuke still couldn't believe that the Dobe had actually made it to ANBU, but what he couldn't believe more was the fact that the ANBU leader had approved Naruto's choice for his ANBU mask.

It was obvious Naruto had picked a fox, but Sasuke couldn't believe that the instructor would allow something that resembled the Kyuubi so much. The ears were much longer than a usual animal mask and were tipped back so they hugged a little closer to Naruto's head than any other masks with the insides of the ears painted red. Red swirls that looked suspiciously like fire twisted up the left side of the mask and wrapped around the eye hole, and three lines almost exactly like Naruto's scars were on the right cheek and ran all the way to the right edge of the mask. The eyes were outlined in black and were longer and slit in at the corners, making Naruto look like a fox wearing a mask when you couldn't see his face.

"Would you be scared if an ANBU wearing pink polka dots and orange pants approached you?" Sasuke shot back.

Naruto smirked and hopped gracefully onto the ground; Sasuke was just glad he didn't land on all fours like a fox too.

"Lookee what I got you." Naruto beamed, reaching behind his cloak and pulling out a small package.

"Should I be afraid Dobe?" Sasuke joked, taking the package from Naruto. It was interesting, just wrapped in paper, and he could feel that it was hard and sturdy, but also very light weight.

"Just open it." Naruto crossed his arms accusingly. Sasuke obliged and folded back the paper, holding up an ANBU mask, with the face of a crow. The beak was hooked, and the dark blue swirls wrapped over the mask starting at the right near the jawbone and ending at the left near the temple. The swirls also looked like blue fire, or in the right light, blue lightning.

"I asked Gaara." Naruto shrugged as Sasuke flipped the mask over and over, his eyes tracing the navy blue lines near the eyes of the mask. Wow, Naruto really knew him.

"Let's go Dobe." Sasuke said, tying the mask behind his head.

"Huh?"

"You want to go home, don't you?"

Naruto blinked and then smiled, nodding happily. He fixed his mask to hide his face and disappeared with Sasuke into thin air.

XXX

Tsunade sighed at the unfinished pile of paperwork cluttering up her desk and reached for the flask hidden in her robes.

"No you don't!" Shizune snatched it out of her hands the second it was in plain sight. "You have to get this done today!"

Tsunade sighed and reached for the first paper and her pen, sneaking out the second flask in her robes and sipping it the second Shizune wasn't looking.

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" a guard from the gates of Konoha yelled, leaping through her window and skidding to a halt in front of her desk.

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU NINJAS AND YOUR NEED TO COME THROUGH THE WINDOW OR WALK THROUGH MY DOOR WITHOUT KNOCKING?"

"Hokage! Two ANBU broke in!"

"When?" Tsunade was instantly serious.

"Not two minutes ago," the guard breathed, "we're lucky we noticed them, they were moving so fast."

Tsunade stood and snapped her fingers, and the entire ANBU team materialized out of thin air, startling the poor guard out of his skin.

"What did they look like?"

"Uh," the guard breathed, "well, one of them was wearing the usual ANBU attire, light grey armor and dark clothing, and a black cloak with no sleeves, he had his head down, we couldn't see his mask. But the other one… well, he had on black and navy clothes, black armor and a black cloak. I've never seen ANBU clothing like that before, and his mask was in the shape of a bird, with dark blue paint."

"And their chakra?" the ANBU leader asked.

The chunin shook his head. "Masked too well."

"Hitai-ate?"

"We didn't see any, so we don't know what village they're from."

Tsunade nodded and turned to the ANBU. "Find them, only call an alert if you haven't located them in seven minutes."

The ANBU nodded and disappeared.

Meanwhile

Sasuke looked up at the remains of where Naruto's apartment building had been. Halfway burned to the ground and far too dangerous to have anyone in, they had long since torn it down, and just an empty lot was the reminder that it had once even been there.

"You alright?"

Naruto nodded stiffly, bending down and picking up a charred splinter of wood, flipping it over and over in his hand.

"Damned to hell fox." He muttered softly.

"No one was killed, right?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"It would have if they'd been killed. But they weren't. It's just a building Naruto, and it was so trashy anyway they probably would have had to tear it down anyway in a few years."

Naruto didn't look convinced.

"The council probably put them into better homes by now too."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and crouched down by Naruto. "Usuratonkachi."

"What?" Naruto all but snapped.

"You can come stay at the Uchiha compound, it's too big for just me."

Naruto snorted and chucked the piece of wood. "You mean if they don't lock me up. They might think we'll use your house as our hide out for us being partners in crime again or something, like the Joker in Batman."

"The **who** in **what**?"

The sudden movement behind them cut off Sasuke's retort. He stood slowly and turned, looking directly into the eyes of the entire ANBU team. Naruto turned around too, not standing up from his crouch.

_He looks like a fox._ Sasuke's brow furrowed. It was probably easier for Naruto to attack from a crouch if his movements were becoming so animalistic. Sasuke hated that, who was to say that Naruto wouldn't become the Kyuubi someday?

_No. That won't happen. Naruto's too strong._

The ANBU were standing with all of their stances relaxed, but Sasuke could sense the tenseness in the air.

"State your names and where you come from." One of the ANBU said. Sasuke and Naruto stayed silent, knowing it was too dangerous to say who they were until they got Tsunade on their side.

"What is your purpose here?" another asked.

"We need to see the Hokage." Naruto spoke up, and the ANBU placed their hands on their swords. Naruto slunk forward, putting his fingertips on the ground, readying to fight. Sasuke just slid his feet apart into a fighting stance as the restlessness in the air doubled. He reached for his sword, glancing over to Naruto in confusion as Naruto didn't draw any weapons. His eyes widened sharply when he saw Naruto's claws needing the ground with anticipation.

_So you can use the claws now without transforming?_ It wasn't really a question, the proof was right in front of him, Sasuke couldn't sense any of the Kyuubi's chakra, and yet, Naruto had the claws. His eyes were probably red and his scars darker too. It was a good thing they were wearing masks.

Nothing moved, and then all at once, the ANBU and Sasuke drew their swords and Naruto arched his back, and they charged.

XXX

"The entire team?" Tsunade ground out, her hands clenched in tight fists on her desk.

"Yes ma'am." The chunin bowed in apology. The rest of the chunin behind him nodded.

"We were watching, and the two strangers took down the entire team. Pretty quickly too." One spoke up.

"Tsunade?" Shizune asked as Tsunade stepped towards the door.

"I'm going after them. Any casualties?"

"No." another chunin said. "The strangers only knocked them out."

"Shouldn't we send the Jounin first?" Shizune asked.

"If they took out all of the ANBU, we can't risk…" Tsunade paused, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Hokage-sama?" the rest of the chunin turned to her.

Tsunade looked around the doorway to her office for a second before determining the source of the presence, and turned back to her desk. The chunin gasped as they followed her gaze, some of the leaping back before arming themselves, some of them just whipping out their weapons on the spot despite being so close to the desk.

The two ANBU stood not three feet behind some of them, one of the two strangers perched in a crouch on her desk, while the other just stood behind it.

"How did they get in here?" one chunin asked.

Tsunade stayed motionless, her eyes fixed on the mask of the ANBU on her desk. It looked… a little too much… like the fox…

"Brat?" she asked suddenly, all of the chunins' eyes snapped to him in shock.

"Seems you haven't gotten too old, you noticed us pretty quickly." Naruto laughed, pushing his mask up to the top of his head and smiling widely at her. The chunin could only stand like statues in shock. It was the Kyuubi carrier. He'd actually come back.

"And Uchiha?" Tsunade turned to the other. This time, when Sasuke nodded, one of the chunin almost fainted in fear. It wasn't unknown of Sasuke's powers and the damage he could inflict with a single attack.

"Did you miss me?" Naruto asked.

"Like a blister." Tsunade snapped, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Uchiha," and a nod was her only greeting to Sasuke, but then, his wasn't much more. He just nodded in response.

Tsunade sighed, running her hand through her bangs. "You know I'll have to consult the council."

Naruto nodded.

"You know you'll probably be locked up."

Naruto nodded again. "They can't do anything to me, I haven't killed anyone from the village, but… I they try to do anything to Teme, I can't promise my track record will stay clean."

Tsunade shot Sasuke a glare as if it was his fault, but Sasuke was too busy staring at Naruto. The idiot was actually threatening to hurt someone if anything happened to him.

"Dobe." He muttered.

"Take that back Teme!" Naruto roared, leaping down from the desk and jabbing a finger in Sasuke's face. Sasuke smirked behind the mask, Naruto's claws were gone.

RR&R

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	13. Parole

I don't own Naruto.

Parole

_All right,_ Sakura clenched her fists determinedly, _this is my chance. Sasuke is back in Konoha and this is my time to become his! _She squealed, not noticing the way the people around her rolled their eyes at her antics.

_Sasuke agreed to meet me for lunch, this is a once in a lifetime chance and I have to make the best of it! Oh—_she looked up to the approaching figure.

"Sasuke!" she stood and waved to him, her smile faltering when he didn't blink or even acknowledge that she existed.

_Ok! Don't get discouraged! You can do this yet! You know him better than any other girl in Konoha!_

"I picked a spot in the shade." She patted the table, wincing afterwards at how stupid that must have looked. For god's sake, she was eighteen, and turning nineteen in just a few months!

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only answer as he sat down heavily in his chair across from her.

Sakura sat down, smoothing her shirt out of habit as she smiled at him. He was glaring at her, with his hands folding in their usual—or what had been usual before he left—position with his elbows up on the table.

"You're not wearing your family's symbol." She noted. Actually, Sasuke wasn't wearing any clothes even remotely similar to anything she'd ever seen him in before. Black chest and forearm armor, a deep navy shirt and black pants. He looked like he was part of a group of ANBU from an S-class ninja organization or from a village like Orochimaru's village. She had no way of knowing that Sasuke hadn't put on anything but the black ANBU armor that Naruto had picked out for him since he'd found it by their bed the time Naruto had bought it.

"Hn."

Sakura sighed and decided to play her below-the-belt card. "How come you aren't locked up…? I thought Naruto…" she knew the answer, but she needed to breach the Naruto subject with him. She knew how protective he could be over Naruto, and it was the best way that she knew of at the moment to get him to open up at least a little bit.

"…The council didn't want me locked up so I could calm Naruto down if he ever lost control of himself, it would be to dangerous to try and let me out without things getting too out of hand with the Kyuubi. That and Naruto threatened to hurt someone if they locked me up." Sakura didn't miss the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of his lips when he said that.

Sakura laughed loudly, trying to keep her own spirits up. "Naruto wouldn't hurt someone from the village!"

"He attacked you, didn't he?"

That made her grind to a halt in her tracks, and her fingers unconsciously traced the darkened skin on her forearm, where Naruto's claws had almost burned her arm off.

"That wasn't Naruto that time, he didn't know what he was doing." She said firmly.

"That was him. It's just a different side of him, the bloodlust side that's leaking the Kyuubi's chakra." Sasuke returned easily, as if he had already accepted it.Which he had.

"What did you want to see me for Sakura?" he asked bluntly.

_He thinks this is like a business transaction._ She thought sadly, but didn't let anything show on her bright face. "Can't old teammates see each other once and a while?"

Sasuke fought not to groan. The only reason he was here was because she had refused to quit calling him until he saw her. With all of the trials, bills, probation and hundreds of other issues in moving back into this goddamn village, he'd been able to see Naruto all of once in the time he'd been home.

He blinked. Home… how long had it been since he'd had… **anywhere** to call that?

"Sakura, I'm very busy—"

"I asked Tsunade to give you some time off today to spend some time with your friends." Sakura beamed, as if she were doing him a favor. "She said it would be good to help you settle back down."

_You mean she hopes I'll get too settled here to decide to up and break Naruto out and disappear with him one day._ He corrected mentally. The Hokage was so predictable it was sad.

"I thought we could do a little shopping for your house." She smiled. "With you gone, many of the poorer families have been using things from your house, so—"

"The compound has enough in it. Anything that was something of value was locked away and therefore inaccessible to anyone outside the Uchiha family."

"Oh, well, maybe you'd like to get something to eat? There's a new restaurant in the market place, they have a lot of spicy food. I know you don't like sweets, and their food is just either salty or spicy."

Sasuke smirked unconsciously, thinking about Naruto and his wasabi and soy sauce concoction, his smirk faltering when Sakura practically glowed across from him.

_Shit, she thinks I'm smiling at her._

"Do you want to get lunch?"

"No."

"Well maybe some training? Or just a walk? The weather is beautiful today, it'd be a shame not to do anything."

_Damn it, when did she get so__** persistent**__?_

"Come on Sasuke." She practically commanded, standing up and waving for him to follow her. Half of him—no, ninety-nine one hundredths of him seriously considered just sitting there, but something made him stand.

_Is it how much Naruto likes her?_

**Ouch**. That thought there was like a sword to the gut.

_Does Naruto still like her? The fox was horny the first time we… is that the only reason we were doing that? The Kyuubi is very driving in Naruto's life… is it why Naruto…_

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Are you ok? You look a little… distracted." Sakura said, trying to look him in the eye, but he refused to look at her.

"Fine." He said gruffly.

"Isn't it beautiful out today?" Sakura smiled up at the sky, her hands folded behind her.

Sasuke remained silent. It wasn't worth his time to answer.

_Actually, the last time we did it too, Naruto had almost completely lost it to the fox. And he was seriously horny then._

"You sure you aren't hungry?"

"No."

"Well we could stop and get a drink somewhere—"

"No."

"Or an ice cream?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Would she every just **shut up**?

"Oh yeah, you don't like sweets… I know!" she perked up and Sasuke fought against a groan.

"How about we take a walk down by the—"

"No."

"But I thought you liked the lake." She protested. Sasuke could feel his self-control cracking more and more by the second.

"You know we could also—"

"Sakura." He cut her off sharply.

He turned to face her, his face blank and serious so she would get it. Hopefully. "Sakura, I treasure our friendship, it's always been important to me."

"Yes?" she prompted quietly.

"B—"

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Lee's booming voice echoed across the market place.

Sakura's head snapped up and she whirled to the sound of the yell, about to shout something not nearly as nice back at him probably about interrupting her time with Sasuke. Sasuke took the 0.03 second opportunity, thanking the gods and Lee a thousand times as he did, and vanished on the spot, relocating himself as far away as he could, as fast as he possibly could.

Ok, Lee could usually distract Sakura for a good three and a half minutes, so he had that long. Sasuke took off for the cellblock, pooling all of his chakra into his legs to run faster.

Sasuke slid to a stop on the ground, fresh from the rain, and glared up at the sky, just daring it to start thundering. It would be a **colossal **issue if it did start thundering. The village didn't need another reason to hate Naruto, and they certainly didn't need to learn that he had a weakness as common and as accessible as thunder, especially with ninja around that could manipulate storms.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He said to the guard at the door, his hands tight in his pockets.

"Yes sir." The guard nodded and waved him in, staring at his back with awe as he walked through the gates. Sasuke stiffened. There were the people in Konoha who were too afraid to go near him, and then there were the ones who were so amazed by his power that they didn't have the sense to be scared, and he didn't know which was worse.

He stepped silently down the dank hall to the restriction cell, one of the ones with sealed bars, so someone wouldn't have to just touch Naruto to let him out, like last time.

"Naruto?" he asked quietly as he approached the last cell so as not to startle Naruto.

The sound of feet padding across the floor echoed down the hallway, and then Naruto's hand poked out from between the bars and waved energetically at him.

"Hi Teme!" Naruto beamed through the cage-like cell, despite the circumstances. The floor was wet, but Naruto seemed happy barefooted, and his cell was a trash dump, but he'd also been fine with that, saying that he was lucky he didn't get dumped out on the streets.

"I tried to get Tsunade to let you move back in with me, but she said the council still doesn't trust you. Bastards." Sasuke finished to himself, moving to lean again the wall beside the cell, staring in at Naruto with a small smile.

Before Naruto had been put in the cell, he'd been living with Sasuke in the Uchiha mansion, but the council had wasted no time in locking him up.

"Well, they'll open up soon—" Naruto tried.

"Idiot! You don't **get it**! They hate you as much as they hate me!" Sasuke exploded, too sick of Naruto standing up for those bastards to hold back anymore. "They hate me for being an Uchiha and they despise you for the Kyuubi! If I died, they'd auction off everything in the compound, but if you died, they'd throw parties in the streets! **Stop defending them**!"

Naruto's smile wavered a little as he stared down at the ground. "I can't hate them…" he said slowly, "they have a right to be scared, you've seen what the Kyuubi can do—"

"But the fox isn't you." Sasuke snapped, shoving away from the wall to glare Naruto in the eye. "And they take it out on you."

"We merged—"

"You are you." Sasuke said firmly, no longer yelling. He took Naruto's hand and held it tightly as the blonde slipped it through the bars to him. "I don't care if your chakra merged, your heart is still yours, not the fox's. It never was, and it never will be. **Never**, do you get it?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and gripped Naruto's hand tighter. He had to get this out, both of them needed to hear it, and out loud.

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen up, Usuratonkachi. To me, you're necessary, even if you aren't to those bastards. You're important, hell, I almost fucking died over you!" _Oh perfect, now I'm getting flustered. _"You saved me. You were my friend when I didn't have any, you were my family when all of mine were gone, you were my brother after Itachi died. You're—" Sasuke clenched his teeth, his embarrassment going through the roof.

"Me too."

He looked up sharply in shock.

"Me too." Naruto repeated softly. "You told me that I was here for a reason, that I was alive and breathing for a reason, that I was necessary, important. You made me feel wanted, and not just like a friend, either. With you, Sasuke…"

Naruto's blush had turned his entire body read, but he didn't stop. He didn't allow himself to stop.

"I feel needed. Something I'd never felt before. I was always a nuisance to Sakura, excess baggage to Kakashi-sensei, and probably just a student to Iruka-sensei, though I wanted to be so much more. I'm the Kyuubi carrier, and everyone sees me as nothing but that now, but Sasuke, you… you see **me**."

"You were never just that to them." Sasuke countered.

Naruto smiled happily, passing over his comment to continue. "You call me loud, and an idiot, and a moron, a Dobe, an Usuratonkachi and a dead last,"—Sasuke flinched at the list of names—"but if that's what I am, then fine. You don't call me a monster, or a demon fox, or a waste of space, or an abomination like other people do. I found my reason to come home. I found the strength to keep fighting for myself, you gave me someone to fight for, you gave me someone to care for, someone precious to me, someone to protect…" Naruto paused briefly, a small smile on his lips, "and I am going to protect you, no matter how much you try to shield me from danger. You wont be able to hide me behind you forever. I'm not going to stay hidden in the shadows. From now on, when we fight, we fight together."

"You're my…" Naruto seemed to waver in a pained hesitation before continuing as if nothing had bothered him. "So I'm going to fight with you."

Sasuke chuckled. "You mean **after** you get out of this cell."

Naruto huffed and stepped back. "You always know how to ruin the mood." He grumbled, walking to the back of the cell and sinking down, hugging his knees to his chest as he faced the wall. Sasuke swallowed, watching the way the already short kimono slid down Naruto's legs and to the floor, revealing more skin then he thought he could handle at the moment.

Sasuke turned around and sat down with his back against the bars, shooting the guard a death glare as he did. The bastard was staringat him like he had four and a half heads for Christ's sake!

Sasuke sighed mentally, perfectly at ease to sit here until the end of time with the Dobe. It wasn't like he had anywhere to be, he was a Jounin—technically, after taking the chunin and Jounin exams—but no one trusted him with their kids enough to train them, and he was only sent as a supervisor for Genin missions; all things boring enough to make him literally fall asleep.

"Dobe?" Sasuke said quietly, staring at a little patch of moss on the wall opposite him.

_Stubborn._ Sasuke scowled as only the crickets answered him, jumping slightly when a pair or arms slid through the bars of the cell and wrapped around his chest, hugging him gently. Naruto laid his head against Sasuke's shoulder, and Sasuke smirked, his hand reaching up to hold Naruto's.

"You know, you didn't have to stay." Naruto murmured.

"…If we're in this together, then we have to be in all the way." Sasuke said. "I'm not leaving here until you do, and then, after we **both** get out, we'll fight together."

Naruto leaned closer into Sasuke's back, resting his head contently into the crook of Sasuke's neck.

"Yeah." He whispered. "Thanks Sasuke."

Sasuke's small smile fell into a grimace, and his brow furrowed in pained confusion at the sudden thoughts that flashed through his head that he instantly shoved away.

_No. I do __**not**__. we're just friends. Brothers. Just close friends. I do not lo… I don't._

Three Days Later

"You know I can't do that Uchiha."

"He's not an S-class ninja, he's only in the cell because the council is a cluster of paranoid cockroaches."

"It's still the council, and I have no say in it."

"But you control the ANBU, and Naruto is part of the ANBU."

"I can't—"

"You know I could always just take him away from this place if neither of us are really wanted to be here." Sasuke cut her off, crossing his arms. He was treading on thin ice, threatening the Hokage with something he wouldn't really do. It wasn't a question of if he could, it was if he **would**. Naruto was happy in Konoha, cell or not. Sasuke supposed he could run away and then just wait for Naruto to follow him, but he didn't want to hurt Naruto anymore.

They were in a glaring contest, with everyone in the room squirming more by the second. Eventually, Tsunade turned away, and Sasuke smirked. He **never** lost.

"I can send a request for temporary probation." She snapped finally, reaching for a piece of paper.

"**Parole**," he corrected through his teeth, "because I know they wont pardon him, and he can be under house arrest if they still feel the need to lock him up, because he'll be staying with me at the compound."

"They're more likely to give him probation rather than parole—"

"They'll do it."

"You sound confident." She glared up at him, but he could see the glimmer of hope in her eye.

Sasuke nodded. "They want Naruto in the village, because no matter how dangerous or how much he scares them, because his power is too useful for them and too dangerous in enemy hands. Besides, if Naruto ran away, he'd go to Suna and Gaara would massacre anyone who hurt Naruto enough to make him run away from home. **Again**."

Tsunade sighed, staring to scribble down on the paper. "Should I mention that you threatened them?" Sasuke brushed over the jab easily. "Most likely, if they think he's going to try to break free from the village again they'll have the ANBU watching him at all times, but even then it's very—"

"They'll do it." Sasuke said again. "And they can come straight to me if they think I'm going to use the Kyuubi on the village and say anything to my face, not tell me it through the Hokage." He smirked darkly.

"You're walking a tightrope over lava Uchiha." Tsunade warned. "It's dangerous to threaten the council in any way, and they might use it as an excuse to try and get rid of you—"

"I was kind of hoping for it." Sasuke smirked. "I'd also like the excuse of 'defending' myself if they attack me to take them down. You might want to warn them that it wont be as easy this time to kill me. No one in the village is strong enough to take me down, most of them are too scared to come near me, and only person I trust is Naruto, and I know he wont turn on me. Also, I'm the only one left in my family, unfortunately for them, so they can't turn my other brothers on me." Sasuke said darkly and stormed out the door.

Tsunade sighed and continued to write. "That boy has a lot of anger." She murmured to Shizune.

"You don't think he'd… **use** Naruto to get back at the council…?" Shizune asked slowly.

Tsunade shook her head. "Did you see him smile when he said Naruto's name? Naruto can heal him, we just need to give it time, and honestly, Naruto can't help him from behind bars. It will be better for both of them if Naruto is out."

"And how are you going to convince the council?"

"I'm not." Tsunade smiled devilishly. "If you recall, I said I would **request** parole, however I'm betting on how terrified the council will be to have Sasuke against them again, and this time he'd have Naruto on his side. Also, what Sasuke said is right. If anyone hurt Naruto in any way, Gaara and the rest of Suna would come down on our heads like 10,000 tons of sand, pun intended, and the council knows that. Suna is all fairly fond of Naruto, from what I hear, because Naruto helped to make Gaara no longer a threat to them and a very powerful and caring Kazekage. So I'm just going to request it, but I have a hunch that they will grant him it."

"They'll have the ANBU watching both of them day and night." Shizune warned. "They've already got the ANBU watching Sasuke every hour of the day because they don't want him in a cell or under house arrest just incase he needs to get Naruto under control in any way; they'll take this opportunity to—"

"I've seen how well both Naruto and Sasuke know their chakra and what their techniques are, I'm not worried." Tsunade smiled, folding up the paper and slipping it into an envelope. "Would you please deliver this to the council's office?"

Next Day

Sasuke trudged to the door in a pace worthy of only someone as lazy as Shikamaru Nara. To his extreme aggravation, the moron at the door continued to bang on the wood, disturbing his peace more. The banging echoed around the large, open compound like drum beats—though they were extremely irregular—but it did little to make him want to go faster, if anything, he went slower than before.

He wasn't bothering to try and sense their chakra, it was probably someone from the village or the council trying to wreck his day more, or even—he shuddered—it might be Sakura again.

Sasuke sighed and ran his hand through his hair before reaching out and grasping the doorknob. He began the process of opening the door, just like he always did when another idiot came to visit (not that they were invited), when something smashed into him like a wrecking ball and sent him flying back down the hallway.

He jammed his foot into the ground in an effort to stop the same time the other person did, the result being that they flipped themselves all the way up to the balcony on the third floor in the open room in the middle of the main house. Sasuke managed to untangle his feet from the other person's long enough to get them to land safely on the railing so they didn't fall back down, but the other person also mirrored his movements again, trying to get their own feet on the railing, and managed to push them both off the railing.

Sasuke oofed loudly as he landed on his back on the third floor balcony and the other person landed on top of him, crushing his lungs, but he didn't even have time to look up to see who it was and attack them before a pair of lips crashed against his own, lips that he recognized only too well.

"You're getting faster Dobe." Sasuke said when they pulled apart, Naruto just grinned widely back at him and hugged him tightly.

Sasuke's gaze snapped up at the sudden flash of eight other people in his house and Naruto scrambled off him. He was on his feet by the time the ANBU team had caught up, but it didn't make him feel anymore relaxed.

"You didn't break out, did you?" Sasuke hissed to Naruto as the blonde grabbed his arm, threatening to mutilate him with his voice, and Naruto shook his head frantically, stepping up close to him so their bodies were aligned with each other.

"Sasuke Uchiha." One of the ANBU handed him a letter. Sasuke took it quickly, wanting to have them out of his house as soon as possible, and tore the envelope open.

Uchiha,

I didn't bother sending you the formal document from the Council, knowing that you wouldn't want to read it. They have agreed to allow Naruto's parole as long as he is under house arrest until they feel that he is 'safe' enough to let out, because apparently he's still on the same status as a rabid dog to them. They said his house arrest sentence time would increase by three months every time the think something suspicious going on. To stay on the safe side and to not lengthen his sentence any longer than is absolutely necessary, I would suggest that no chakra is used at your house at all, including you or anyone who may come to visit you. They will be looking for every excuse to get Naruto locked back up and would probably like it better if he just left the village. I think they would rather him not here even if they were losing the power that he has, so you must be extremely careful about all chakra around you.

Godaime Hokage Tsunade

"What's the old hag say?" Naruto asked, draping himself roughly over Sasuke's shoulders from behind. Sasuke didn't miss the way the ANBU shifted uneasily around them like they would tag team to take all of them down faster than they could blink. Sasuke smirked mentally, he and Naruto **could** take them all down before they blinked, and it would be fun too. They'd already done it before, and it looked like the ANBU remembered that.

"You're stuck here, you can't leave the house." Sasuke folded the note back up, doing a double take at Naruto's hands on his arm when he saw the metal cuff on Naruto's left wrist, and the distinct seal on it that was only for chakra sealing. Further inspection showed a metal collar around Naruto's neck with the same seal on the front.

"We were ordered to stay outside the house." One of the ANBU said.

Sasuke nodded, and with that, the ANBU disappeared and the rustle of tree leaves outside were a give away to where they had gone.

"You got any food in this place?" Naruto asked from behind. Sasuke rolled his eyes and led Naruto down to the first floor and into the kitchen.

"Help yourself." He said, leaning against the wall as he watched Naruto ravage the kitchen he was so rarely in. "I'll show you the rest of the house when you're done."

"I've been here before." Naruto said around a mouthful of god knows what, leaning back so he was looking at Sasuke upside down. Sasuke didn't even know what he had in his fridge.

"Don't choke Dobe, and you haven't seen the entire house before, just the main room."

Naruto shrugged and righted himself before diving back into the fridge. "You wouldn't believe how gross the food was in the cell, I'm starving!"

Sasuke blinked as he looked at Naruto. It looked like the Dobe was putting on some weight; was it just malnutrition from not eating enough in the cell? (Note: your stomach gets bloated when you're malnourished) Well, Naruto would eat now because he was here, so that was no problem. "Did anyone come to visit you besides me?"

Naruto nodded, taking another huge bight out of the fish he had found. "Hinata and Kiba visited the first night I was there, Hinata was crying like crazy for some reason, then Shikamaru, Neji, Ino and Tenten came, Bushy-brow came lots of times, Kakashi sensei brought me some weird stuff that he said would make me more comfortable when I came to stay with you after I got out, I don't really know what it was though…"

Sasuke deadpanned. He was going to **kill** Kakashi. In **very** painful ways.

His brow furrowed. _Gaara hasn't come to visit him yet? …That's odd._

RR&R! Thanks!

On a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think?


	14. Sand

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Because of a recent jerk trying to find **logic** of all things in this fiction story ¬ ¬ I want to remind reviewers:

Feel free to flame, please! Just don't expect me to sit and take it.

You **will** hear something in return, but unlike how I answer all of my other nice reviews, this reply won't be so pleasant.

Sand

Sasuke slipped his key back into his pocket and closed the door to the compound behind him, instantly going stiff. He didn't dare use his chakra to see what was going on because of the ANBU always stationed outside the house, but as he took one step into the main room, he didn't have to.

Something crunched under his toe, and he knelt and ran his finger across the floor, bringing it up to his eye.

_Sand._ Sasuke relaxed and rubbed his fingers together to brush the grit back onto the floor as he straightened up. He wished Gaara didn't feel the need to leave a trail of sand every where he went, it wasn't so much of a problem in the desert where sand was anything but scarce, but he couldn't say the same for his main room floor. It made sense that there was a trail leading upstairs, Naruto wasn't allowed to have visitors yet, so Gaara had to morph himself into the sand and then just drift into the house on the breeze in order to see the Dobe.

"Usuratonkachi?" Sasuke called as he walked into the kitchen.

He set the food he'd picked up on the table along with the wasabi, soy sauce and dried seaweed on the table and started up the stairs to the third floor.

The compound was… silent. It was like a ghost mansion. Sasuke unconsciously fisted his hand as he thought of that, but the thoughts were already growing like weeds.

He was jolted out of his thoughts again by the distinct crunch under his feet again as he reached the third floor and looked down to find a good layer of sand—at least a half inch thick—covering the entire third floor of the house, most of it piled in front of the door of the room Naruto used. Sasuke had wanted them in the same room like when they had been traveling together, but he could feel that Naruto needed the space, so he had given him the guest room right next to his own.

A Little Earlier

"It's starting to really show."

"No shit." Naruto pushed his shirt back down, trying to cover the now obvious bump in his stomach.

"So you're about three months along now." Gaara leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. Naruto nodded, flopping back onto the bed, and then rolling over onto his stomach to hide the bump.

"Does anyone else know?"

Naruto shook his head, burying his face in the red silk on the bed sheet.

"I sent you back here so you could get checked up by a doctor without having to hide." Gaara snapped, restraining himself from whacking Naruto upside the head.

"I knoooooooooooooow!" Naruto wailed, kicking and flailing on the bed.

"So they had you in jail for how long?"

"Just a week or two, not very long." Naruto shrugged before smirking evilly. "Hey Gaara…"

Naruto's only encouragement from the redhead was a slightly raised eyebrow, and even then, the gesture took minimal effort.

"I forgot to ask while we were in Suna… do you have a **significant other** yet?" he crowed.

Gaara remained motionless as he spoke. "You were in Suna for a week, and you still didn't remember to ask?"

"Just answer the question!" Naruto stabbed his finger at Gaara, standing up in the bed.

"…No."

"Why not?"

"Naruto, only one person from my village is willing to be trained by me—"

"That was before!" Naruto flopped back down on the bed. "They were all so happy when you were fine after Akatsuki took the Shukaku."

"No one will pursue me Naruto, and it is because of the Shukaku."

"But you don't have the Shukaku anymore—I've seen you sleep! And who's to say that **you** can't go after someone?"

Gaara didn't even blink.

"Or maybe you **do** like someone." Naruto's face went sadistic again.

"I don't even know why I'm wasting my time here with you."

"Who is it?"

"I didn't say anything Naruto."

"Come on Gaara!" Naruto whined, rolling around on the bed. "If I guess it will you tell me?"

Gaara stayed motionless.

"Is it a girl?" Naruto all but shouted, scrutinizing Gaara's every move. It was too bad Gaara didn't flinch at anything.

"A guy?"

Naruto gasped as a single grain of sand on the bed moved. "You're gay? Nononononono, wait!" he waved his hands around like a madman. "Don't tell me, let me guess!"

"Hmm… does he have brown hair?" another grain of sand moved, completely unauthorized by Gaara, and Naruto yelled in triumph again. The blonde missed how ticked off Gaara looked by his sand doing things he didn't tell it to just because his body temperature jumped a few notches. Gaara might have mastered the art of being a statue, but apparently his sand was still his opening.

"Is he our age, or close to it?"

Another ripple. Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly and his muscles clenched.

"KIBA?" No reaction. "Then Shikamaru?"

"The Uchiha."

"Sasuke? … You like **him**? But wait, Sasuke has black hair—"

"No, the Uchiha." Gaara cut him off, looking at the door. Not two seconds later, Sasuke pushed the door open and stepped into the room, closing it behind him. Naruto seemed moderate relieved that his best friend didn't like his lover… if that's what they even were. The physical part was obvious in their relationship, but… Naruto didn't know if Sasuke felt the same way as him on the caring part. Sasuke was always so cold when it came to emotions and it was impossible to tell.

Sasuke nodded at Gaara before moving to the bed with Naruto. Gaara didn't miss how he sat slightly in front of Naruto, like he was protecting him. Gaara pushed away from the wall and started towards the door.

"Are you leaving?" Naruto pushed himself up onto his elbows, staring after Gaara.

"…I have no reason to stay." Gaara said slowly. Sasuke did **not** understand how Gaara's icy voice could not freak Naruto out even a little bit.

The sand swirled up around Gaara, and he dissolved into the cloud of sand, drifting out from under the door. Naruto stood up and ran to the door, yanking it open and watching how the sand leaked out of the house through every crack, hole, window and door in the compound.

The sand clouds didn't remerge until they were far enough away from the Uchiha compound to not be suspicious, settling down as a thin layer of dirt on the top of one of the Konoha buildings, drifting and sliding slowly over the roofs.

"Ha!" Lee yelled as he landed on the top of a house, earning a yell from the residents, but he easily ignored it and dodged another kunai from Neji.

"This is the day that I will finally beat you Neji! I can feel it!" He jumped over the next kick from the longhaired boy and landed a little off balance, which wouldn't have normally been a problem, except for this time there was moving sand beneath him.

"It is the spirit of youth—AAH!" He yelped sharply as his feet slid out beneath him and he landed harshly on his elbow, nearly sliding off the edge of the roof.

"Lee!" Neji landed on the roof, his hands shooting out for balance as the shifting sand beneath him knocked his balance slightly off.

Lee flipped himself up and landed in a crouch next to Neji so as not to slide again. "Is it Gaara?" he asked.

Neji looked around the roof, putting his kunai back into his waist pouch. A thin layer of sand covered the entire tiling, matching the way the roof was layered so well that it was actually a hard to notice it unless you were looking for it. Or standing on it and being moved by it.

"I think so." He answered, lifting his foot a little so the sand under it could continue along with the rest of the sand. "But why is he here, I didn't here anything about him coming, and usually they announce it pretty widely."

"Yes." Lee agreed. "He seems to be traveling incognito, could he have been visiting Naruto?"

"It's possible."

"But Naruto is not allowed any visitors. So did he sneak here without any authorization from Tsunade?"

"I guess—"

"HA!" Lee boomed. "The wonders of youth that gave him the wonderful power to not be seen! WELL DONE!"

"Lee, be quiet. If he's seen it might be bad for Naruto. His sentence his long enough as it is."

"Oh! You are right, I am sorry!" Lee yelled in a whisper, saluting Neji. "But if someone sees the sand, could it not it be dangerous as well?"

Neji's brow furrowed. "And the market's fairly crowded today too…"

"Of course!" Lee jammed his finger into the air, and then knelt back onto the roof. "May we be your escorts Gaara?"

The sand was still, and then it rippled and rose up, swirling around Lee's arms and weaving into his bandages, more sand filling his leg warmers and under his hitai-ate.

Neji paused a moment nervously before he held his hand out as a sort of offering to the rippling sand beneath his feet. The wind wound up around his ankle, and the grains of sand in the air began to settle in his pockets and waist pouch along with his weapons. He pointedly ignored the way his body temperature rose a few degrees. He was good at keeping his face blank, but Gaara was literally pressed right up against his skin, only a thin layer of cloth separating them.

"YOSH!" Lee bellowed before leaping to the next roof and racing off for the Konoha forest. Neji shook his head before following.

Lee looked back once to make sure Neji wasn't close enough to hear him. "Gaara, it is good to see you again, did you come to visit Naruto because he is no longer in jail?"

"I did." Gaara's monotone voice said from the bandages on his arms.

"He must have liked seeing you, Naruto is very close to you, I am glad he had you to go to when he felt that he could no longer stay here last year. It is hard to believe that I will be turning twenty and Naruto will be turning nineteen. But even though we grow older with our years, we still are filled with wonderful and lively youth!" he shouted with a grin, punching the air with his fist. "And how are your wonderfully youthful brother and sister?"

"As prying and annoying as they could be."

"But did they not cover for you when you came here today to visit Naruto?"

Silence.

Lee smiled. "I think that your brother and sister care for you a lot more than you might understand. They seem to be very understanding of you and want to breach the gap that was created between you two during your bright childhoods. Are there any other people in your life? You are training a young girl, but is there someone that is precious to you like Sasuke is to Naruto?"

"Why do people keep asking me that?" Gaara groaned to himself. "Temari asked me that before I left, and then Naruto—"

"We are worried about you Gaara, I know for a fact that Naruto is very worried that you will be lonely all of your life because you will not pursue someone. He said that when I went to visit him in the dank cell they kept him in; it was not right to put Naruto in there, he has done nothing wrong."

"Of course the idiot would care."

Lee smiled again. "But is there really no one Gaara? My wonderfully beautiful and youthful Sakura is opening up to me more by the day, soon she might even be mine!"

"The pink haired one that abuses Naruto?"

"It was all play, not abuse, do not worry. You can tell me Gaara, I have no reason to tell secrets to anyone."

Silence.

"Is it someone from this village?"

"You and Naruto both seem to think that I'm actually pining after someone."

"Of course!" Lee gasped down at the bandages. "It is the wonders of youth that make us love! It seems that your family is growing closer to you, but what about anyone outside of your wonderful family? Like my beautiful Sakura?"

"….It isn't someone that I'm about to go after, I've done enough damage to this village as it is."

"So then there is a special someone in your heart. Ah, the joys of the truth! But why do you feel as though you cannot go after this special and wonderful person? Do you feel as though they will not return the feelings?"

"Without a doubt."

"But how do you know?"

Nothing.

"Is it someone important to the village? Or high up in the social status, is that why you were worried about doing damage to the village if you decided to court them?"

"You talk too much."

"But that is part of the wonders of youth!" Lee beamed, his teeth sparkling in the sun as he ran. "And Naruto speaks much more than I do!"

"I'm not convinced on that."

"Could it be the youthful Hinata?"

"No, it isn't her."

"But I cannot think of any other girls that are high up in status… unless it is a boy, like Naruto and Sasuke."

"You know about them?"

"They try to hide it, but Naruto is terrible at keeping secrets and they are so rarely seen without each other, it is like they have a string of youth between them that cannot stretch very easily, so they do not venture far apart from each other."

"Hmm… if it is a boy, and they are high in the social chain from this village…" Lee looked back to Neji, jumping from tree to tree about twenty feet behind them. Lee quickly looked back, a spark shining in his eye. "Could it possibly be the youthful Neji?"

Lee let out a loud whoop at the way the sand rippled uneasily beneath the bandages and Gaara cursed the sand to the bottomless pits of the seven hells.

"Lee, be quiet, we're in the ANBU practicing grounds, we need to stay quiet and out of their way." Neji said, jumping forward to catch up with them.

"Neji, are the joys of youth not wonderful?" Lee shouted, tears streaming down his face.

"Huh?" Neji blinked.

"Never mind." He sighed happily, just beaming in return. Neji rolled his eyes and jumped ahead.

"I would go for it Gaara, it would be wonderful if you had that someone special, and Neji is not yet taken. He is kind, but he is also strong, I think that he will be very good." Lee said once Neji was far enough in front of them.

"…Gaara?"

Silence.

Father up ahead, Neji looked sharply down when the sand rippled like water over his arms. It was still for another moment, and then ran over his skin like a bird with its feather-light touches, almost like fingers.

The grains seemed to caress him as they wove over and danced patterns on his skin underneath the cloth of his shirt and chunin jacket. Neji fought a shiver back down his spine, the fingers stroking and tracing over his skin, dragging and teasing. What the hell was Gaara doing…?

Neji's breath hitched at the sudden brush above his naval; the sand had snuck beneath his undershirt while he was thinking and it was distracting him with the traces to his arm. The sand worked like a hand, stroking roughly over the tender skin protecting Neji's vitals, a place that had never really been breached before, Neji was too good at protecting himself to let that happen.

His muscles quivered involuntarily as the sand ran over his naval again, teasing and… **tickling** him. It was an odd feeling, he'd never really been tickled before, his parents never played with him that way. It wasn't that he didn't like it—hell, it was kind of enjoyable, it was just… **different**.

Hinata was deathly ticklish, and Kiba often had fun with it, but Neji had honestly never even thought about himself in that way, having a childhood weakness in that way.

Neji's lips locked in an effort to stay absolutely silent as the sand drifted over his skin, drawing on his arms, tracing on his stomach and now teasing over his chest. The sand swirled up—just a few grains, but it was enough—out of the collar of his shirt and stroked his collarbone, running over the contours in his shoulders and getting at the places normally hidden by his clothes.

This time as the sand brushed over a particularly sensitive area on his skin on his rib cage—determining Lee far enough behind to not notice anything—Neji let the shiver momentarily rock his body, vibrating like an earthquake over his skin.

A 'finger' trailed up his arm, from the inside of Neji's wrist to his shoulder, but it was enough to make him shiver again. He shook his head to keep running straight so he didn't run into a tree and forced himself to ignore the sand touches. It worked, at first, but it seemed the fingers weren't so easily discouraged or swayed.

The touches trickled up Neji's torso like droplets of water—just enough to tickle him again—and slipped over his shoulder, running down between his shoulder blades and wrapping like an arm around one of his hips, becoming more forceful by the second as they continued to get no response.

The sand gained boldness and swept up over his neck and out of his shirt to skim his cheek like butterfly kisses, leaving Neji's skin tingling wherever the sand touched it. He shivered again, goose bumps pricking over his skin and making him even more sensitive to the feather touches, like a baby bird's wings sweeping over his skin—over his arms, his chest, his abs, his shoulder blades, his back, his spine, his neck, his collarbone, and he was so caught off guard by the sudden pinch to his earlobe—like a love nip—that a rush of air that sounded a little too much like a gasp escaped his lips.

"Neji."

His eyes snapped back open—he couldn't remember exactly when they'd closed—to find that they were at the edge of the Konoha forest.

The sand drifted out of his and Lee's clothes and swirled up into a small whirlwind of sand, dispersing to reveal the Kazekage, looking as though he'd just seen poverty and war (his usual expression), not like he'd just—! Neji ducked his head in an attempt to hide his enflamed cheeks.

Gaara nodded once too Lee before the whirlwind wove up around him, and the cloud of sand swept over the ground and off into the distance.

"He is always disappearing like that, if someone wants him because of who he is, they will need to chase him, because I do not think Gaara knows how." Lee said, glancing over at Neji's dazed face at first in anticipation for his reaction, and then in confusion at how clouded over and out of focus Neji looked to the whole world.

Neji vaguely remembered telling Lee not to wait for him, but he wasn't even sure of that.

He was alone in the forest, and a hand found the side of a tree to keep him from keeling over backwards all the way off the tree branch and back down to the ground. His breathing was irregular to say the least, completely overtaking his hearing along with his heart hammering in his chest, and his skin was on fire in more ways than one, his pants were quickly becoming more strained by the second, but only one thought was in his mind:

Neji could not believe it, it was against so many odds, a one in 50 million chance, as unlikely as a fish flying or drowning, but it was true. He had expected to die a bachelor, but now… he wasn't so sure, because…

Because Gaara felt the same way about him that he did to the Kazekage.

Meanwhile

Naruto wolfed down the soy-sauce-wasabi-dried-seaweed-uncooked-rice concoction Sasuke was positive would make even a sewer rat hurl, and Sasuke pointedly looked the other direction until Naruto was done.

"Yum!" Naruto set his bowl down on the table with a loud clack and licked his lips.

"You're weird Dobe." Sasuke said, reaching into the fridge for his own dinner.

"It tastes good!" Naruto defended the food, dumping his bowl loudly in the sink as he proceeded to fill it with water.

Sasuke nibbled on the tomato he had gotten out, leaning against the counter as he watched Naruto work. Granted, Naruto's wild movements sent a lot of water flying onto the counter around the sink, but there was something… **soothing** about watching Naruto.

"Hey Sasuke, I have to tell you something." Naruto said suddenly, setting the clean bowl down on the counter. _Ok, not too hard, just say it. "Nice day, isn't it Sasuke? By the way, the Kyuubi created me a chakra womb and you knocked me up. You want a card next father's day?" Yeah, not too hard. _"I… you… we… you've got a tomato seed on your cheek." He said quickly, pointing.

Sasuke easily picked up on the fact that Naruto had chickened out of telling him, but there **was** a tomato seed on his cheek, so he wiped it off with a fingertip and licked his finger very slowly and deliberately, teasing the seed a little bit with his tongue before taking it into his mouth and swallowing, smirking to himself when Naruto gulped at the display before whirling around.

"I… we… do you **ever** wash your dishes?" Naruto pack pedaled again, pulling nearly all of the dishes out of the cabinet and proceeding to wash them again in the water still in the sink. His movements were much less like a spasm now, and he actually looked peaceful while doing such a simple task.

"Naruto." Sasuke pressed, crossing his arms accusingly as he waited. _Idiot._

"…I'm… we're… I have… whoa! Did you see that bird?" he pointed dramatically out of the window, yet again weaseling out of saying whatever he wanted to say.

Sasuke sighed, not even bothering to wait to hear what Naruto had to say, as the Dobe would never actually get around to **saying the damn thing**. He shoved away from the counter he'd been leaning on and stepped silently over the floor, hoisting Naruto up and setting him on the counter before either of them could blink.

"Hey—"

Sasuke silenced Naruto with a finger to his lips, and leaned it so their foreheads were touching. "Calm down Usuratonkachi, don't hurt yourself by thinking too hard." Naruto huffed angrily in response.

Sasuke pressed himself into Naruto and Naruto wrapped his legs tightly around Sasuke's waist—as much as he could before the bump in his middle got too in the way.

"About this…" Sasuke looked down at Naruto's bloated middle, missing how Naruto went as red as a fire hydrant for three seconds.

"…About that… the, uh… I'm… we're going to be…"

"I was thinking it was malnutrition."

"What?" Naruto asked, completely caught off-guard.

"You said you didn't eat much in the cell, right? And when you did, the food wasn't good enough for a rat? I think it's malnutrition. You get bloated when it happens." He explained to Naruto's perplexed expression.

Naruto blinked. Twice. Three times. "…Oh… **oh**!" his face lit up, like he was relieved or something. "Yeah, mal-whosa-whata!"

"Malnur—"

"Yeah that!" Naruto smiled widely, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck.

"So you'll just eat like crazy for the next few days, and no ramen."

"WHAT?" Naruto wailed, pulling back.

"That stuff is terrible for you Dobe, and you aren't allowed out of the house, and I'm the one doing the shopping." Sasuke said triumphantly.

"No fair Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, shaking him roughly by his shoulders.

"Well suck it up Dobe, because I'm not buying any of that crap." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrists to steady himself and pushed forward, pining Naruto farther back into the counter. He drew his tongue along Naruto's collarbone slowly, trailing up Naruto's neck until he was close enough to press his lips over the darker tanned ones. "What are your other favorite foods?" he asked around the kiss, making sure the contacts between them never broke.

Scale of 1-10 please and read at the very top for a note to reviewers!

I still love all of my kind readers and reviewers!

It's like the saying goes, "If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the fuck up."


	15. White Fox

I don't own anything but my ideas.

White Fox

Sasuke pushed open the door to his room after searching the whole rest of the house for the idiot blonde, confused to find it… **dark** was the only word to describe his room. No lights were on, and Naruto was lying in bed, which nearly made Sasuke freak. Sure, Naruto was a morning person, but it wasn't that late, it was getting dark outside too, but Naruto never went to bed this early unless he was… **sick**, Sasuke thought with dread.

Sasuke stepped over to the side of the bed and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, jerking his arm just enough to jostle Naruto and wake him up. Naruto opened his eyes, but… something was odd about him…

"Dobe?"

"…Well, no… not technically." Naruto sat up and yawned hugely, scrubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

It clicked. _A clone. How did I not sense that? And where's Naruto, I didn't feel him anywhere, not even his presence._ "Where is he?"

"He said you'd know." The clone flopped back down and rolled over.

Sasuke's eye twitched, and he brought his foot up and slammed it down on the bed, shaking the clone roughly.

"Hey! What?" the clone yelled, shooting back up in bed.

"Where?" Sasuke demanded in a lower tone, more dangerous. He wasn't in the mood to play games.

"He **said** you'd **know**!" the clone said incredible deliberately, stressing too many words and making obscene faces at Sasuke on 'know'.

They stood like that for the next ten minutes, glaring at each other, Naruto with his hands on his hips and staring down at Sasuke, Sasuke's arms crossed as he stared back up at the clone.

"The compound's training grounds." Sasuke tried stiffly, the clone shrugged.

"The veranda."

The clone smiled widely.

"He's just hiding in the house and he wants me to find him, right? Idiot."

The clone just yawned and stretched again.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed sharply as another thing clicked in his head.

"He's not in the house."

The clone smiled.

"He's not in the rest of the compound either."

The clone flopped back down on the bed.

"He's not even on the Uchiha grounds, is he?" it wasn't a question, it was a statement, and there was an obvious growl in Sasuke's voice. The idiot had left the **house**, where he had been bound for who knows how long, and gone further and risked the possible jailing again and left the **grounds** all together.

…The **IDIOT**.

The clone just smiled again, pulling the covers over his head. "He said you'd know where to go." It yawned before burying itself in the thick covers.

Sasuke refrained himself from hitting the mass of blankets as hard as he could, knowing that if the Naruto the ANBU were watching suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, they would have the real Naruto behind bars before either he or Sasuke could blink, and this time he'd **have to** break out, because they wouldn't let him out for the rest of his life if it was up to them.

Sasuke grabbed his cloak off the back of the door and draped it over himself, disappearing out the open window just as the clone started to snore.

"_He said you'd know where to go."_

Sasuke's first thought was the training grounds, it had a lot of good as well as bad memories for them, but that would be too obvious as well as way too dangerous. So many people went there at all times of the day that that it might as well have been grand central station.

_But where…? Oh, of course. _

Hokage Mountain.

It was dark by the time he reached the mountain after trying not to be noticed. It was black, but not like his dreams, not smothering, the stars were clear and shining above his head.

Sasuke walked up to the edge of the mountain, staring down at the village from atop one of the Hokage's heads, he didn't know or care which one it was.

The village looked so… **peaceful** at night, so quiet with tiny lights blinking or turning off. It looked so happy, quiet…

The bastards.

Sasuke turned away from the sickeningly lovely village that he'd come to hate so much. First they made his brother turn against his own family, and the framed Itachi so Sasuke hunted him down, leaving Sasuke alone as the last Uchiha besides Madara; it was pretty damn obvious that they were trying to wipe out the Uchiha line. And then, as if that wasn't enough, what they'd done to Naruto after that was just unacceptable. Blaming him for everything the Kyuubi did and then locking him up like a kicked puppy. They still didn't get that Naruto was so powerful he could incinerate the village in three and a half seconds, and he almost had, they'd all seen a taste of how dangerous he was when he burned down his apartment building and almost the hospital. They were all idiots.

Speaking of which… Sasuke turned around, reaching out with his chakra. He hadn't expected to be able to find Naruto that way, the Dobe had finally gotten his act together to have good enough chakra control that he could mask it so well it was like he wasn't there, it looked as if finding him would be up to Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke stepped quietly through the grasses and flowers that were now as high as his waist that seemed to glow in the moonlight, and a small stream down at the bottom of the hill caught the stars like a mirror. Sasuke blinked, it looked almost exactly like his dream; he half expected to his younger self and the younger Naruto laying in the grasses and flowers.

He pushed through the flowers to the top of the hill, where a small patch of parted flowers indicated that someone else was here with him.

He walked over to Naruto's side, looking down at the blonde. "Dobe."

Naruto had his arms and legs spread so he resembled one of the stars, and his bright, sky blue eyes opened slowly and he smiled up at Sasuke. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, with his mask and Ninjato lying beside him in the grass. Although the short and revealing prisoner's robes were skimpy and flattering on Naruto, he looked a thousand times better in the tight ANBU clothing and armor.

"You know they're going to lock you up until the end of time if you're caught."

"It was boring inside, and I wanted to see if I could get past them so you wouldn't be able to say that my chakra was bad anymore." Naruto grinned impishly up at him.

"And you know Gaara will come down on the village with ten thousand tons of sand if you get locked up again."

"I have confidence that you'd forcibly break me out before then, you've already done it once before."

"Why the hell are you talking like a tight-ass politician?"

"Granny said people listen to you more if you sound like you know what you're talking about."

Sasuke deadpanned. "First of all, that was a jab at you, she was saying that you never sounded smart enough to be taken seriously, and second, you talking like that just sounds weird."

Naruto stuck out his bottom lip and glared up at him. "Well fine then Teme,** be** an ass."

Sasuke smirked as Naruto looked pointedly away and sat down next to Naruto. He laid down the way he had in the dream, facing the opposite way as Naruto with their heads side by side, and reached up to entwine his pale fingers with the tan ones. He idly wondered if his younger self was watching them as he had to their younger versions in the dream.

Next Day

Sasuke's eye twitched as the phone rang. **Again**.

Naruto, having nothing else to do, bounded over to the phone and pulled it elaborately out of the cradle. "Hello?" he sang. "Hi Sakura!"

Sasuke wildly drew a line across his neck with his hand, shaking his head.

"He isn't back yet, sorry Sakura. Uh-huh, I'll tell him, hey Sakura, when my parole is over, you want to get something to eat together?"

Sasuke smirked as Naruto jerked the phone away from his ear and Sakura's screaming was followed by a loud slam through the receiver as she hung up.

"How many times is she going to call? That was the thirteenth." Naruto put the phone back in the cradle.

"Are you going to ask her out every time?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, unrolling another scroll and setting it on the table.

"Her reaction is funny." Naruto smirked, draping himself over Sasuke's back and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. "What'cha reading?"

"I'm trying to find out how to seal a girl so she can't touch a phone ever again." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"No, really." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Really."

"Fine then, don't tell me."

"I'm just reading over some of the scroll from my family's archives for something to use if the council ever attacks us. So far I know everything, but so do they, so it be safer to find a jutsu or seal that hasn't been used in decades so they wont be expecting it."

"They're too afraid of us to attack." Naruto went over to the cabinet and took out a bottle of folic acid and a spoon, swallowing three spoonfuls.

"Why…?" Sasuke blinked at him.

"Gaara said it would help me not get sick again." Naruto pulled another two bottles labeled calcium and iron out of the cabinet.

Sasuke blinked again before shaking his head and looking back to the scroll. Some things were just better not to ask.

"You know, if she thought you were already seeing someone, she might stop calling every three minutes." Naruto said absently around the spoon in his mouth.

"We could tell them about us—"

Smash.

Sasuke shot up from his chair and his eyes snapped to Naruto. The bottle of folic acid—which he had no doubt dropped—was in three million pieces on the ground, Naruto's feet and shins splattered with the liquid.

Naruto shook his head slowly, his eyes wide with terror.

"You're **shy**—?" Sasuke began in disbelief before Naruto launched himself across the room and grabbed Sasuke's shirt, shaking him.

"Do you know what they'd **do** to you if we told them?" he shouted. "It's bad enough to them that you're an Uchiha, but they'd hunt you down if they knew about what we were doing!"

"Christ almighty Dobe, fine then, don't flip out!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hands, forcing the frantic jinchuuriki back so he didn't get strangled.

"We'd have to defect to Suna!" Naruto gasped. "And every other village would attack Suna and Gaara would get evicted as the Kazekage and then we'd be stuck traveling with Temari and Kankuro and we'd both have to be fighting Kankuro off all day because no girl or guy would want to be with him and then we'd be living as whores or thieves in some run down city in the shadows where no one would look and we'd never be able to show our really faces again, we'd all be living in the transformation jutsu like the old hag the rest of our lives—"

"The transformation jutsu…" Sasuke said to himself.

"—and then Temari will never be able to make a move on any of the other guys and Gaara wont ever be able to find someone and we'd be hiding all of our lives and no one would serve me ramen anymore at anywhere because so few people want to serve a jinchuuriki already, but even less of them will want to after I've started a war all because of me and then we'd be eating off of old food carts like rats and then Kankuro would get caught with the daughter of some really rich person and then he would hunt him down and eventually get led back to us and the we wouldn't be allowed in the city anymore and we'd have to survive in the forest like animals or S-class… we **would** be S-class ninja! Oh my god!"

"Dobe, **shut up**!" Sasuke bellowed right in Naruto's face, effectively silencing Naruto. "The regular transformation jutsu exerts a lot of chakra, but what about Tsunade's transformation? She's in that form all day long, and it wouldn't be possible unless she had something supplying that chakra, the way the Kyuubi does a lot for you. But then there's a more permanent jutsu that can last for a much longer time, and it doesn't matter if the person gets hurt or not…"

"Teme, what are you—"

"So if you could potentially… Naruto, let me talk to the Kyuubi."

Naruto blinked before squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head frantically.

"Dobe, I just want to see if it can help you—"

"No." Naruto said flatly. "No bloody fucking way—"

"If you can do it, you might be able to go outside of the house in the open."

Naruto opened his eyes, obviously caught by that. "Really?" Naruto asked, closing his eyes again.

_Idiot, I'm not going to try it right now._ "You created a clone of yourself last night and left the house, but if you can do a semi-permanent, or longer-lasting transformation jutsu then you can go out in the open."

Naruto bit his lip. "Well, I guess…"

"Look at me." Sasuke commanded, taking Naruto's shoulders as the Sharingan began to spin. Naruto swallowed before opening his eyes.

_His eyes really are blue._ Sasuke thought before he landed in the knee-deep waters in front of the Kyuubi's cage. It was **hot**. Hotter than it had ever been when he'd gone into Naruto's mind, Naruto's regular body temperature was about 112 these days, but the heat in his mind was **ridiculous**.

"_**What now?"**_

Two enormous eyes glared down at Sasuke from behind the bars of the cage. Sasuke's brow furrowed, three complex seals—the most intricate he might have ever seen—glowed toward the back of the cage.

"_**Of course the runt can do a transformation jutsu."**_ The fox cut him off before he could ask. _**"He would have to be seriously mentally stunted to not be able to do a simple transformation jutsu with the amount of power we have together. He's stupid, but not that stupid, now if you'll excuse me, I'm very busy trying to improve both of your feeble human lives."**_

"**Both** of our lives—?" Sasuke began.

"_**Out!"**_ the fox roared, and the water around Sasuke began to whirl dangerously in a vortex, dragging him under. _**"I have no reason and no desire to speak to you useless human!"**_

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

Sasuke groaned and shoved himself up off the floor, rubbing his temples furiously and trying to get his vision straight. He had a **hell** of a headache.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded, kneeling beside him.

"Damn fox threw me out." Sasuke said dryly, forcing himself to his feet. _How the hell did it __**do**__ that? _"But he said that you could do a transformation jutsu like that. Try it."

"But if the ANBU sense my chakra even a tiny bit—!"

"Well how did you do it last night? And why the hell is your mind so hot? It was 50 million degrees in there." _He threw me out of Naruto's mind… is he that in tune with Naruto now that he can do something like that? He's that synchronized with Naruto's mind and body that he can come out at will and can do things through Naruto…_

"It was?" Naruto blinked. "Well last night… I did it while my chakra was masked." He said absent mindedly, tapping his bottom lip with his thumb.

"Well then do that now." Sasuke smacked his hand over his eyes. "Because if you can take someone else's appearance, and the create a clone of yourself, you can go out of the house, but you have to use the fox's chakra, because it would be too risky for you to use your own if you were to accidentally drain yourself."

"…I'll try." Naruto said slowly, and placed his hands together in the seals he did with the shadow clone jutsu. His chakra, already so low it was almost nonexistent, suddenly seemed to draw further away and then disappeared all together, along with all traces of Naruto's presence. It was weird, Sasuke could see Naruto standing in front of him, but he could feel Naruto's presence at all, as if what he was looking at was just an illusion.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, and an explosion of smoke filled the kitchen. Sasuke waved it away with his hand, and the cloudy air drifted away to reveal two of Naruto, one like nothing had changed, and the other in his sexy jutsu form.

"I said the other one couldn't look like you." Sasuke rubbed his temples slowly. His head was **killing **him.

"Well then you tell me what you would **like**, Teme!" the two Narutos said in sync, both glaring at him and putting their hands on their hips.

"And you can't do things at the same time like that, it'll be weird if one of you does something out of nowhere that the other one is doing at a different place."

The female Naruto flipped her hair and stuck her nose in the air. "We can't help it if both of us take offence to your damn comments."

"Maybe you should be a little more grateful that I could do this in the first place." The male Naruto crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air, facing the opposite direction as the female Naruto.

"You can't look like you, people will know it's you if you go out with blonde hair and your scars."

"Well, what would the king care for me to look like?" girl Naruto huffed. "Opinionated." She muttered to herself.

"Some girl people will think I would want." Sasuke said absently, looking back to the scrolls on the table.

"…Like…?"

"I don't know, just someone that seems like I would be with her." Sasuke snapped. _How hard is it?_

"Any ideas on what she'd be like?" male Naruto turned to the girl Naruto.

"Hmm…" she crossed her arms, "emo."

"What?" Sasuke deadpanned.

"Oh! And moody!" male Naruto joined in enthusiastically.

"Masochistic." Female Naruto said.

"Sadistic."

"Territorial about Sasuke."

"What about chakra?"

"Oh yeah… we'd have to mask it so no one would know it was us…" male Naruto tapped his lip with his thumb.

"Ok… oh! Abusive!" female Naruto started listing traits again.

"Reckless!"

"Disobedient!"

"Cold!"

"Dishonest!"

"Humorless!"

"Low tolerance!"

"Uses people!"

"Spiteful!"

"She's a killer!"

"Wow, this is going to be hard to be." Female Naruto said absently, meanwhile, Sasuke looked about ready to commit a homicide and save the council the trouble.

"Kyuubi could help with the personality, he's a natural at it already." Male Naruto suggested.

"What about clothes?"

"Lots of black." Male Naruto said, nodding.

"But it has to be sophisticated enough so she looks from a high enough status." Female Naruto chimed in.

"You hear that fuzz ball? Ok, I'll here we go." female Naruto placed her hands into the seals again, and a cloud of smoke exploded around her.

The smoke cleared to reveal a dark-haired seductress and dark blue eyes that might as well have been glaring at Sasuke, though she looked very relaxed.

"Well?" she asked expectantly, her soft voice like a siren's and suddenly much calmer than Naruto's.

Her hair was pulled to the right in a loose side-ponytail hanging over her shoulder, and her long bangs and eyelashes almost obscured her eyes, their color as deep a blue as the night sky. There were no sleeves on her black kimono revealing an intricate seal on the inside of her right arm, and the hem of the bottom of the kimono only went to the top of her knees, matching the short length of her sleeves. Only a single white cherry blossom—about the size of her hand—decorated the kimono at its hem. Her obi in contrast, was white with a single black cherry blossom adorning it. Straw sandals with a two straps—one going from between the toe to either side of the foot—were next to a thin ankle bracelet with a small charm on it that looked as if it were for maximum chakra release. (Note: think flip-flops for the sandals)

"Convincing." Sasuke admitted, rolling the scroll shut. "What about weapons?"

The girl blinked slowly, her long eyelashes brushing her cheeks as she seemed to be thinking. "Kyuubi?" she said finally.

Black fire slowly wrapped around her leg, morphing and condensing to form a small dagger tied to her thigh, and the fire flared up on her back, parting to reveal sturdy longbow that had been carved out of black walnut with the same white cherry blossom on it, like her kimono. A black quiver was tied parallel to the ground on her back around her waist so it didn't get in the way when her bow was on her back.

She removed the dark wood slowly from her back, testing the weight of the bow inquisitively as she held it out—its length almost as tall as she was—and drew one of the arrows from her waist, knocking it curiously.

"Good feel." She said absently, drawing the arrow back to her ear.

"That's a lot of black." Sasuke commented, watching her pull the arrow back even farther and listening to the string of the bow stretching under the pressure.

"I just suggested things, Kyuubi called the shots, take it up with him. I also feel as bored as I've ever been because the fox also chose my characteristics, but all I want to do to interest myself is to fight someone, so I'm just going to stay bored until I release the jutsu, I guess." she stated, relaxing her hold on the bow and sliding the arrow back into the quiver. "But I don't have anything like a name or what village I'm from." She turned to him.

"And what about chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm leaving that up to the orange dust ball." She said, running her finger over the wood of the bow. "Hiding it and changing its feel hasn't been an issue before."

"It **is** convincing." The male Naruto clone agreed. He had somewhere along the way mad himself a bowl of ramen and was now slurping it up, the girl who was supposed to be the real Naruto wrinkled her nose in disgust, indicating that traits and hair color weren't the only thing the Kyuubi had changed about her to fit the description Naruto had asked for.

"So what now?" the clone asked, turning to Sasuke.

"Names, and village." He answered easily. _This isn't going to piss the council off enough, even if her personality is very similar to mine, there has to be something else…_

"Something that would freak out the council, as long as we're doing this, we might as well have fun with it!" the clone yelled happily.

"Myobu means white fox, like a celestial one." The girl murmured, placing the bow back onto her back.

… _The Kyuubi will definitely piss the council off, but there has to be something else I can do to even just… oh._

"So your name's Myobu, but what about your village?" the clone asked as Sasuke walked out of the room, Myobu watching him curiously.

Sasuke leapt up to the third floor balcony from the main room and pushed the door open, walking over to a small chest in the corner of the room. The seal on the front of the chest opened to his touch, and he lifted the lid, searching through the small handful of possessions he kept because he couldn't find a reason to get rid of them, and because they gave him reasons to stay in Konoha for Naruto.

Finding what he was looking for, he closed the door to his room behind him and jumped back down to the first floor. Myobu and the clone were standing right where he had left them, the clone on his third cup of ramen and Myobu inspecting one of the arrows on her waist. Not having to worry about the clone getting jealous because the real Naruto was Myobu right now, Sasuke handed her what he had gotten from the chest.

She blinked at him before unwrapping the thing from its cloth and holding it up. Her eyes went wide and she cringed visibly, holding the Sound village hitai-ate as far away from her as possible as she grimaced in almost disgust.

"No." Myobu said flatly. "Absolutely not."

"It'll piss the council off if I show up with a girl from Sound one day." Sasuke smirked triumphantly, knowing that would get Naruto to put it on.

Myobu grimaced again before moving it up to her forehead, pausing and tying it around her arm at the last second. "Feels weird on my head." She shrugged. Sasuke blanched, hair and eye color really wasn't the only thing the Kyuubi changed. Sasuke was essentially talking to a female human version of the Kyuubi's personality through Naruto's.

Sasuke twitched again as the phone rang and the Naruto clone bounded off happily to answer it.

"Hello? No, he isn't back yet. Hey Sakura, when I get off parole, do you want to get dinner with me?"

Another round of screaming through the phone was followed by a slam and then a click as Naruto hung the phone up and walked back in with a huge grin on his face. "She broke the record for most derogatory things yelled at me." he said as if it was an accomplishment. Meanwhile, Myobu looked about ready to shoot the phone with one of her arrows.

"Jealous?" Sasuke smirked. Myobu's eyes snapped to Sasuke, and for a second he thought she was just going to shoot **him** instead.

"I'm turning back." She snapped. "Because I really feel like killing something right now; the Kyuubi's personality is too dark for long periods of time, tone it down next time you damn fox." she ran a hand through her bangs, and in a puff of smoke, Naruto stood in her place. He took a deep breath and the clone also disappeared.

Naruto put his hand down by his side slowly, and his eyes flicked to Sasuke. With a grin he launched himself at the raven, clinging to his back like a monkey.

"Dobe!" Sasuke yelled as he almost fell over and had to grab the counter top to get his footing again.

Naruto sighed and nuzzled his forehead into the back of Sasuke's neck. "The Kyuubi's really moody, I wanted to really attack you, like to actually cause damage there for a second, but I think it was just because the fox doesn't like you very much."

"I've picked that up over the times we've met." Sasuke said dryly, prying Naruto off his back and pulling him into a hug. "Should we go see Sakura?"

Naruto looked away unsurely. "Well, I guess… I just have to tell Kyuubi to tone down the urge to kill and to **never make me want to attack you**." He growled, suddenly rigid, before zoning out, his eyes going cloudy as he went into his mind.

Sasuke resisted following him just to try and ask the fox what he meant again when they talked earlier, but he knew Naruto wouldn't appreciate it too much, so he just moved the blonde to a chair so he wouldn't fall flat on his face the second Sasuke moved away.

Later

To say that the pair of them were attracting attention would be an understatement, probably the one of the century. Sasuke was dressed in the all black ANBU armor and outfit Naruto had picked out for him with his sword at his hip and Myobu in her black and white short kimono with the longbow on her back; the Sound village hitai-ate didn't help much either. Most people just avoided them, but some people had the gall to gasp out loud or do something else stupid like that.

After Kyuubi had toned down Myobu's personality, she had less of a must-kill character and more of an I'm-taking-pleasure-in-your-pain character. It was better than her wanting to seriously hurt anyone that pissed her off in the least. Sasuke had also seen her smile, it was a sadistic smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

They had arranged to meet Sakura at a small café in town at noon, but they were getting there at quarter of, knowing that she would have already been there since eleven fifteen. Sure enough, there she was, sitting at the only outside table at the café with a mug of something in her hands. Ino was sitting beside her, looking as though she was giving Sakura a pep talk. It wasn't a rumor anymore, or even unknown by some of the lesser people in the village that Sai and Ino had been seeing each other for a few months now. Sasuke knew from experience that people often feel for their teammates because you got to know them so well.

Ino gasped and touched Sakura's arm, signaling that Sasuke was coming, and Sakura immediately reached up to straighten her hair. Sasuke felt Myobu stiffen by him.

"Sakura." He said when he was close enough.

Sasuka jumped up and pulled him into a hug. "Sasuke! I can't believe you called me up! It's great we're finally—who is she?"

"…This is Myobu." Sasuke said, prying himself out of Sakura's arms.

Sakura didn't seem capable of closing her mouth. "…Sasuke… she's from Sound!" she gasped, staring at the hitai-ate on her arm as Ino inched away from them. There was horror in her eyes, it was obvious she knew what Sasuke showing up with a girl meant, it was too bad Naruto wouldn't allow Sasuke showing up with him at his side. What the hell was the Dobe so worried about anyway?

"Yes, I am." Myobu said dangerously.

"…Sasuke… can I talk to you?" Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him to the other side of the street.

"…D-Do you… want to sit down?" Ino offered.

"…No." Myobu said flatly.

"…Oh, ok."

"Sasuke, I know you and that Karin girl were pretty close, but how could you bring someone from Sound home?"

What was she for Christ's sake? His **mother**?

"She's not…" Sakura shook her head slowly, "I mean… you and her are just friends, right?"

"You know that my goal was to repopulate my clan Sakura. Myobu is very powerful and has also lost her family, she was in Sound looking for more power—"

"Sasuke, she already looks pregnant! And I thought you of all people wouldn't do anything like that until after marriage!"

Sasuke blinked and turned back to look at Myobu. With her arms crossed as she looked pointedly away from them and the tight kimono, she **did** look pregnant, about three months, actually… what the **hell** was** that** about? Was it just Naruto's malnutrition being carried over into her looks?

"…Sasuke… but I… I also…!" Sakura was tearing up. Out of nowhere, her hands shot out before Sasuke could blink and cupped her face, yanking him forward.

Milliseconds before their lips touched, something shot out of the air like a bullet, and an arrow glowing with black fire embedded itself deep into the wall behind them, missing both of their noses by about a quarter of an inch as it separated them. The black fire surrounding it dispersed slowly, leaving just a plain wooden arrow in the wall between them.

Sasuke blinked. **That**… was **close**. And since when could Naruto shoot an arrow?

Sakura looked over at Myobu with death in her eyes as she let go of Sasuke's cheeks and clenched her fists at Myobu. Myobu drew another arrow from her quiver and knocked it, the seal on the inside of her arm starting to glow light a black light. The bow was on its side, parallel to the ground, and as she drew the arrow back to her ear, it was engulfed with the fire again, the head of the arrow trained right on Sakura's neck. Sasuke knew Naruto would never actually shoot the arrow, but he was doing a damn good job acting as if he would for the part.

_The Kyuubi is controlling the arrows._ Well that made more sense; Naruto would have killed someone if he'd fired that arrow.

The crowds of people around them had frozen, just waiting for the fight to break out, most of them dying to see how a ninja from Sound fought after all of these years, especially after Sound had fallen with Orochimaru so long ago. People half expected her to suddenly start spitting snakes out of her mouth or something. They could feel the Kyuubi's chakra radiating off of her body—though it was being disguised as a human's chakra, giving it a different feel so people didn't think it was the Kyuubi—and it was just putting people more on edge.

"Myobu." Sasuke said firmly. He didn't want to have to fight Naruto, but if Naruto started something, he would have to be the one to end it before the ANBU arrived and they were forced to take them down again.

Her eyes still burned with the same black fire that was flaming on her arrow, but slowly, she relaxed her arm and slid the arrow back into the quiver and jammed the longbow back over her shoulders.

The second the arrows were out of Myobu's reach Sakura yanked a kunai from her belt and lunged forward, disappearing through Sasuke's fingers as he grabbed for her. In a shower of sparks and a loud crash Sakura and Myobu were locked together, Sakura's kunai and Myobu's dagger almost bending around each other with the force being put on them. Sakura had two hands on her kunai, but Myobu only had one hand was on her blade. The other was wrapped tightly and…** protectively** over her stomach. As to why, Sasuke was baffled. Especially with Sakura's chakra, which Sasuke knew Sakura released in large bursts so Naruto would have taken some huge force on that one arm from Sakura's attack.

"Possessive whore," Sakura hissed. "We knew him—grew up with him—long before your black eyes ever looked at him! You think you can just move in and act like you have a right to be with him? You think because you're from Sound and have put a few people in the afterlife before their time that you have something in common. If you're the reason he's been kept away from his home this whole time since he broke away from Orochimaru…" there was a clear threat in her voice.

Nothing moved except for the kunai and dagger quivering with force in between the two ninja. Sasuke was too worried that if he even breathed wrong Sakura would do something else and Naruto would be forced to fight her.

And then Myobu's eyes bled red, a deep bloody crimson, and a wild smile spread over her face. Sasuke watched Sakura's anger fade to horror as the Kyuubi easily forced her kunai back and pushed the pink-haired ninja toward the ground.

"You'd better watch yourself girl," the Kyuubi hissed through its teeth, "you never know who the wrong person to attack is until they put a knife through your throat, and by then, it's too late."

Sasuke shot forward, knocking Myobu back into the wall of the shop and keeping both hands wrapped firmly around her wrist, making sure to hold the dagger at a bad angle so the Kyuubi couldn't throw it. The Kyuubi's blood-red eyes glared at him for a moment before merging back to deep blue and Sasuke could clearly see Naruto's terrified eyes behind the wrong color blue. Shock that Sakura had just attacked him, but terror that Sasuke couldn't place. Almost like terror that he was going to lose something even though Sasuke knew Naruto could easily defend himself against Sakura.

"She'll be staying at the compound." Sasuke snapped to Sakura over his shoulder. Naruto lowered the dagger slowly, letting Sasuke slip it out of her hands once the raven had loosened his grip.

"You ok?" Sasuke asked under his breath. The only response he got was a shaky nod, Naruto unable to meet his eyes again.

"And if you **ever** attack her again," Sasuke snarled, whirling back to Sakura, who was still on the ground, "**she** won't be the one to put a knife through your throat."

Sakura pushed herself to her feet, brushing her hands together slowly before turning to confront Sasuke.

"**This** is who you chose?" she asked slowly, her fists shaking in anger. "You didn't have to pick someone from Konoha, you didn't have to pick someone who knew you well, and you didn't even have to pick me, though I've known you better than any girl other than your mother."

Tears were now flowing down Sakura's face, but she wasn't about to stop and Ino didn't look like she would step forward to stop her.

"You chose someone from Sound!" Sakura shrieked, taking a step forward and Sasuke leaned forward protectively as he felt Naruto grip his shirt. The Kyuubi coming out that suddenly must have really shaken him up…

"You chose some bipolar whore from Sound who is probably more desperate than all of your mindless fan girls here! She wanted to tear my neck open two seconds ago and now she's quivering behind you like a leaf! Did you know that he only wants you for your power?" Sakura jabbed her finger at Myobu, taking another step forward. "And then once you've had his son he can just dump you on the side of the road? How strong can you even be if you're scared with me just yelling at you? Are you good in bed? Is that why he chose you? Or do you have a Kekkei Genkai too?"

Sasuke turned back to Naruto, half looking for one of his arrows to shut Sakura up with and half looking for her dagger to cut Sakura's tongue out with, but stopped at Myobu's expression. Her deep blue eyes stared at the ground, her lips in a tight line. Sasuke could see easily that Naruto was hearing truth in Sakura's words.

Sasuke's lip pulled back over his teeth, and he turned back slowly to glare at Sakura who took a nervous step back in response. Sakura had always been a pain in the ass, but **never** had he actually wanted to end her life until now.

It would be so easy to shut her up. Permanently.

Later That Night

Sasuke concentrated on regulating his breathing as he lay with the blanket loosely on top of his naked form, his arms spread out. A pair of tanned hands clung to one of his pale hands, holding it against his bare chest.

Sasuke's head flopped over and looked at the perfect face, much darker than normal in only the moonlight. He rolled over, wiping the sweat on his face off onto the pillow as he did and tenderly ran a hand through the golden locks.

"So when are we going to tell them the truth about Myobu?" he whispered through the darkness.

"…After my parole is off." Naruto whispered back, nuzzling into the raven's chest.

"That long?" Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto, disapproving in his voice.

"Doesn't have to be that long, they might let me off tomorrow for all we know, I just don't want to be stuck in the house when Sakura comes to kill me." there was no joke behind Naruto's voice.

Sasuke tensed and rolled, pulling Naruto with him so he was on his back and Naruto was lying on his chest. "I won't let her do anything to you." He said firmly. "And even then, we could have years of you being on parole to prepare what to say to her."

Naruto shook his head. "Even if I don't get off soon enough, I'm not going to wait that long… six months at the most."

"Six months? Why that specific?"

Naruto shrugged. "No real reason, just… something will be pretty obvious in six months, and then we'll **have to** tell them."

Sasuke let it drop and pulled Naruto closer against him with one hand. "One more time." He whispered huskily, kissing Naruto's neck. Naruto immediately tried to scramble away.

"We just did it!" he protested as Sasuke rolled over again, so he was on top of Naruto. Sasuke smirked evilly and picked a spot on Naruto's collarbone to bite, grinning as Naruto yelped. He kept going because Naruto's struggling was so weak it was obvious he wanted it too.

"Fine." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shoulders, hooking his legs around Naruto's waist as he rolled them again, reversing their positions. "You can top this time."

"Really?" Naruto said eagerly, not waiting for a response before diving into Sasuke's lips, their tongues thrashing between them.

"One more time." Naruto agreed, running his hand up the length of Sasuke's thigh and making the raven's eyes roll back into his head.

Meanwhile

Neji lay eagle spread on his bed, fingering the cut on his cheek absentmindedly. He'd been so dazed from what happened yesterday with Gaara's sand that he'd failed to notice Tenten's kunai coming straight at his face, and she'd left a pretty deep cut on his cheekbone.

He wouldn't have thought in ten million years that something like that would have happened to him. Before yesterday, his life plan was to get married to some random girl that was very strong to have kids, because that's what his clan wanted, or just to not get married at all. He was gay, but only in a sense, because only Gaara turned him on; there was no one else that made him feel that way.

Neji sat up in bed and pulled his shirt off over his head, remembering that he had also been so dazed that he hadn't changed since yesterday, no wonder Tenten was looking at him so oddly. It was something to do with being a weapons expert, she just noticed **everything**, like the way she did about weapons. Maybe it was the girl factor too.

He dropped the shirt on the floor and moved to pull off the rest of his clothes, when the Byakugan sensed something shifting behind him. He whirled, instantly ready with a kunai in his hand, but only his shirt was behind him.

He lowered the kunai again a millimeter before his shirt shifted again.

Neji inched forward slowly, kunai poised, and pulled his shirt gingerly off the floor. Sitting there on the floor, hidden beneath the white cloth was a tiny, perfect, black and brown sand raccoon, only the size of his thumb.

He set the kunai on the floor and gently lifted the sand figurine off of the wood, holding it in the palm off his hand as a small smile touched his lips.

He set the raccoon on his bedside table and stripped the rest of his clothes before pulling on his nightclothes. He climbed into bed, smiling once more at the raccoon before doing a double take at the little animal.

Instead of the sitting position it had been in when he'd picked it up, the little raccoon had laid down and now had its eyes closed and its tail wrapped around it as it slept.

_Is that what Gaara's doing?_ Neji reached out cautiously and ran his finger down the back of the little raccoon. He smiled again and flicked the light off, watching the little raccoon long into the night.

Holy long o_O I'm sorry, I didn't intend for it to be this long! Please don't flame!

Hopefully you enjoyed the insanely long chapter, but on a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think?

RR&R!

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	16. The Darkness Within

I don't own anything but my ideas.

The Darkness Within

"So are we done?"

"Yes! For the eighteenth time Kankuro, we are done!"

"Awesome." Kankuro rubbed his hands together. "And we don't need to start back until later, right?"

"They don't need us home until late tonight, they said we have all day to try and settle this thing between the villages. It was lucky Tsunade was so agreeable because of you being best friends with Naruto, it only took an hour." Temari smiled craftily. "Now we have the rest of the day all to ourselves in the Konoha market."

"…I'm… going to go look at those kunai on sale over there…" Kankuro said slowly, walking over to a group of girls sitting at a small table in front of a café.

"…And I'm going to look at the shops over here." Temari said, heading off in the opposite direction for a boy window browsing for god knows what.

Gaara blinked, his eyes shifting left and right to where Kankuro and Temari had disappeared.

Right as it started to rain.

Downpour.

There was a miniature freaking monsoon falling from the sky.

Buckets were deluging from the sky and raining down on Gaara's head. Slowly his eyes blue eyes drifted upwards to stare at the sky before drifting back to the road in front of him.

People were pulling out umbrellas or running into shops as they pulled their coats over their heads, having been prepared since this morning because of the threatening skies, but the weather in Suna had been perfect, none of the sand siblings had brought anything to save them from the rain along. Gaara probably wouldn't have bothered taking it out anyway even if he had, and not three short minutes later he was soaked through the skin and clean through to the bone. His brick red hair and clothes were already a shade darker he was so wet.

When all of a sudden the rain stopped falling above him.

His eyes snapped to the side to meet with a white shirt. His eyes flicked up to look into the pearl grey eyes of Neji Hyuuga, who was holding an umbrella over his head. (Note: Neji is actually about four inches taller than Gaara)

"What are you doing?" Gaara said stiffly.

"Keeping you from getting drenched." Neji returned easily. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"Do you want to be carrying around a gourd full of mud?"

Gaara's eyes flicked back to the road.

"I heard you were coming with Kankuro and Temari today, where are they?"

"Off being sluts."

Neji blinked. It was incredible how different Gaara was from his older siblings.

"You're soaked. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough."

Neji moved to stand next to Gaara so it was easier to hold the umbrella over both of them. Across the road, a couple was laughing as they tried to shield themselves from the rain with their bags, falling over each other as they ran from awning to awning to stay out of the rain, their fingers tightly entwined as they ran.

"…How big is your hand?" Neji asked, looking over to Gaara. The Kazekage remained motionless before his eyes drifted over to meet with the pearl ones again. Slowly, and with minimal effort, he removed one of his hands from crossing his arms and held it out.

Neji lifted his hand up and pressed it against Gaara's. Gaara's hand was soaked from how long he'd been under the downpour, and the water dripped down both of their arms, dripping off of their elbows and onto the flooded ground below.

"Mine's bigger." Neji stated, turning his hand to see from the side. The difference wasn't much, but it was noticeable to a ninja.

"You're taller." Gaara let his hand drop back down to his side, but he didn't break his gaze with Neji.

Neji looked around after a moment, twisting to get full view of the now nearly deserted street. "Do you know how long Temari and Kankuro will be?"

Gaara looked back to the road. "As long as they feel like making me wait, they love to test different ways to piss me off, like Naruto." He said in his chilling, monotone voice.

"Do people normally leave the Kazekage alone in a strange village?" Neji asked lightly.

"Normally the Kazekage doesn't have siblings that have survived for this long. They're usually killed for bait by some idiot who thinks the Kazekage would abandon the village just because he can't accept that his sibling is gone. We can't have emotions like that."

"But if they did survive."

"…No, I think only Kankuro and Temari have the guts to pull something like this." Gaara growled, mostly to himself.

Everything was silent aside from the rain for the next ten minutes, as it became apparent that the older two sand siblings had no intention of returning anytime soon. The light mist from the droplets splashing in the puddles that were quickly becoming deeper by the second created a delicate haze over the market place, eventually making it hard to see very far in front of you clearly. Of course it was visible, especially to a Hyuuga with the Byakugan, but it was almost mystical in a way. Like the pair of them had been isolated in their own world together. It was pretty in the light purple glow of the darkened sky, like an island hidden in the mist… an island that was slowly flooding or sinking into the sea.

Neji's eyes looked down to the puddles forming around his feet and stepped back to be closer to the wall of the building behind them so he was on higher ground, but Gaara apparently felt fine standing right where he was, and didn't flinch as the rain momentarily pelted down on him again until Neji noticed that Gaara wasn't moving with him and stepped back into the forming puddles to shield Gaara from the rain again.

"It's been half an hour, and neither of them are back yet." Neji stated, taking Gaara's lack of movement, and lack of a response at all as his cue to continue. This was the step he had to take, like Lee said. _"If someone wants him because of who he is, they will need to chase him, because I do not think Gaara knows how."_ Wasn't the raccoon a clear sign? And the caresses of sand? He wanted to feel the coarse sand running over his skin again. He took a breath to steady himself before asking, "My apartment is right down the block, would you like to wait there?"

Again, Gaara stayed more motionless than a statue could ever pull off, but very slowly, his eyes moved to look at Neji. Neji angled his body, inviting Gaara to follow him and at least wait until the rain had passed.

_This means __**nothing**__._ Neji told himself firmly, probably firmer than he had to. _He'll just stand by the window until we see Temari and Kankuro, just like a business exchange._

Gaara's ice blue eyes moved to watch the street again before he turned and began walking over to where Neji stood, and Neji—knowing not to make him wait or stand unnecessarily in the rain—led the way down the deserted road. He took care to keep the umbrella over Gaara's head, knowing the redhead wouldn't bother making sure to stay under it himself.

Neji shook the umbrella out under the awning of the apartment building before pushing the door to his apartment building open. Thank **god** the attendant wasn't at her desk; this could just be passed off as a kind gesture or for the sake of Konoha's reputation, but it was better to not have to fight the rumors. His uncle was forgiving, but he also wasn't an extremely trustful man after everything that had happened to him as a ninja and the clan leader.

He started slowly up the stairs to his room, and pulled the key out of his pocket. He'd barely pushed his door open an inch before Gaara whirled him around and slammed him back into the wood, smashing his lips against Neji's.

The rest was a blur. The whirling sand barricading the room, the torn clothes, the incredible heat and tightness, the fire between the two, Gaara's arm practically crushing his shoulders and spine in his hold, and the way Gaara roared his name as they came. It was all a blur, to amazing and too bliss filled to remember a single detail, just the feelings, and then he was asleep, lying with his head on Gaara's muscular and perfect chest, Gaara's legs still around his waist, his head still spinning.

It had all happened so fast. More like the world around him was going at the speed of sound, but he and Gaara could barely get faster than the breeze on a calm day in the summer. Neji smiled, catching sight of the sleeping little raccoon of sand on his bedside table before he fell asleep.

Its fur was ruffled.

Meanwhile

Temari heaved another sigh and looked down the street again as Kankuro crossed his arms impatiently, the rain pelting down around them as they stood waiting under the little awning of where Gaara should have been, or where he had been when they'd left him.

"This had better be a damn good reason to make us wait." Kankuro snapped.

Next Day

"Sasuke I'm assuming you know how strong her power is, but did you even feel how dark it was? I know you're looking for the strongest person you can find to repopulate your clan, but did you have to choose someone who looks like she just escaped from a mental institution? Her chakra was so **dark**, I thought I was dead! Those arrows were chakra reinforced, went three times as fast as a normal arrow shot by a longbow, and were rigged by her chakra to not stop flying until they hit her target!"

_The Kyuubi was controlling the arrow, you have no __**idea**__ just how dark she is, or at least her chakra is._ Sasuke thought in exasperation, resisting the **very** strong temptation to deck Sakura.

"Sakura, this does **not** concern you." Sasuke spat, ignoring the looks they were getting from the people walking by them. He normally got looks like that, but did Sakura have to pick the middle of the market to confront him on this? And did she have to pick **now** of all times? He cast another wary glance above him, where the sky was growing darker and more menacing by the second. Rain, every weather channel had said that, only three of them had said chance of thunderstorms, but that still meant that there was a chance, and the clouds above him were dead proof that there were going to be thunderstorms that day.

And Naruto was alone in the compound.

All alone in the huge, wide-open area, with nowhere to hide and no one to keep him from the thunder.

_Flashback_

"_Naruto!" he yelled over the next deafening crash of thunder, looking back towards the direction of the waterfall when he felt a surge of chakra. Naruto's chakra. He flew towards it as fast as he could, thanking the heavens at the same time he was planning all the ways to mutilate Naruto for just running off like that._

_Sasuke whipped around when he came to the place he had felt the chakra, waiting for the next pulse he could follow. Naruto was damn good at masking his chakra, and that could be good or bad considering the situation, but here it just made Sasuke want to beat him into a bloody pulp._

_The thunder crashed again, and Naruto's chakra throbbed again, leading Sasuke just a little farther into the forest where he saw a small opening into a cave behind a pile of boulders. He stepped cautiously over to the rock, placing his hand on the cold stone as a guide as he ducked down and inched into the cave._

_As he went deeper, taking care of his head on the low ceiling, a glow became noticeable at the back of the cave, and two enormous red eyes took form as he got close enough. A low, sinister growl grew louder until Sasuke stopped moving forward, where it stayed the same volume, a low rumble reverberating around the close walls of the cave._

_The thunder cracked behind him, and another dangerous chakra surge flooded the cave the second the lighting lit up the cavern, and Sasuke's eyes went wide at what he saw._

_The Kyuubi, three times larger than he was, somehow fitting in the cave and lying at the back, it's teeth revealed in a threatening snarl as it growled warningly up at Sasuke, but more shocking than that, was the huddled up thing sitting curled up next to it, buried in its fur._

"_Naruto?" Sasuke asked, carefully creating a ball of light to see farther into the cave._

_The Kyuubi growled warningly, wrapping its tails tighter around the huddled ball, which slowly looked up, revealing the tear-filled, sky blue eyes of Naruto Uzumaki. _

_His hair was drenched from the rain, though the heat in the cave the Kyuubi was creating was beginning to dry it, and his clothes clung to him like skin because of the rain. His bangs were matted down into his eyes, and his hands clutched at the sides of his head, the tear tracks on his cheeks shimmering in the light._

"_Y-you…" Naruto stammered._

"_What is it?" Sasuke crawled a little more towards him until Kyuubi barked a threat for him to stay back._

"_Y-you s-said… my name." Naruto choked out. He recoiled suddenly at the next flash of thunder, curling back into a ball tighter than he'd been in before, his chakra surging unstably again. The Kyuubi's tail wrapped comfortingly around him, hiding him more from the outside._

_Sasuke looked unsurely back to the mouth of the cave, watching the rain pounding the ground just outside of the shelter of the rocks. "You're… afraid of thunder?" _

_He heard Naruto swallow, and then whimper loudly at the next crash of thunder, but Kyuubi's rumbling and low barking quickly drowned it out._

_Sasuke let the light he'd created go out, leaving both of his hands free to crawl forward into the blackness. _

_Kyuubi's growling was growing louder by the second, but Sasuke ignored it, feeling his way into the murky darkness. His fingertips touched the blazing fur of the Kyuubi, and he carefully edged over its tail, using his chakra to make sure he didn't step on it._

"_Naruto?" he asked quietly, reaching out to find the blonde._

_Naruto looked up, and his blue eyes briefly caught the light of the next flash of lighting before he shrank back into a ball, burying himself farther into the Kyuubi's stomach._

_Sasuke winced at the sight. Naruto, the boy with no fear, sitting in a very vulnerable, very defenseless ball in front of him, quaking like a live time bomb in his fear. He __**was**__ a time bomb, every time thunder shattered the dark skies, Naruto briefly lost control of his enormous and already unstable chakra, putting them all in immense danger. He had to try and calm him before Naruto's chakra literally exploded._

_End Flashback_

"You're going to abandon us again, aren't you?" Sakura demanded, grabbing his arm just as he turned to go back to the house. "You're going to leave here with that… that **girl**"—she spat the word—"and you're going to leave me again!"

"Sakura, let go of me." Sasuke said dangerously, looking up at the sky again, which had gone from a charcoal grey to a light black (as light as black can get) in just the time it had taken for Sakura to say those few sentences.

Did anyone beside him know? It was obvious Sakura didn't know, or she'd be fighting him to get to his house first, partly because of Naruto and partly because she'd said herself that she'd always wanted to see his house. Tsunade maybe? No, Naruto was really mad the next day that Sasuke knew of his fear; he had been the first person to find out.

"No!" she yelled, planting her feet firmly on the street and grabbing his arm with both hands. "The last time you left you broke my heart and you nearly forced Naruto to kill himself! You destroyed who you are, completely changed your personality—you came back and I didn't even know if it was you! You killed everyone who got in your path, and you even killed your own brother!"

"Damn it Sakura, **let go**!" Sasuke yelled, yanking away from her, but damn her strength to hell, she didn't let go.

"I wont!" she shook her head frantically, pulling him back. "You can't leave us again! You've been acting weird since you got back, but we wont let you go this time! Naruto would drag you back to your house by your ears if he were here—"

Thunder cracked suddenly overhead as the rain began to pummel the street, and lightning streaked across the sky as something throbbed in the distance. Something very dark, dangerously strong, and severely unstable. Something all to familiar to Sasuke.

"What was that?" Sakura whispered, the rain matting her hair against her forehead. People came to a standstill in the street to look over to the source of the chakra.

"Shit." Sasuke spat, and the thunder boomed again. The chakra surged, making Sasuke's ears ring like his head was being crushed in a compressor. There wasn't time to do this with Sakura the nice way.

"Sasuke!" she yelled as he started to run towards the chakra, but this time she was yelling out of fear for him, not for herself. "What are you—"

"Damn it! If you wont let go then start running!" he barked, grabbing her hand and yanking her forward as hard as he could. He thought he heard her shoulder pop out of her shoulder, but he didn't care, and he cared even less as thunder—loud enough to make the houses around them shake—made the chakra surge again, and this time, the air around them started to heat up, another degree every second.

"That's…!" Sakura gasped, running faster now. "This is the same chakra as when Naruto fought Orochimaru—when he used the fourth tail of the Kyuubi!"

_She knows. _Sasuke grimaced. _She's seen it before, the damage Naruto can cause._

"Faster." She said to him, and they both shot forward.

Sasuke smashed through the side door into his kitchen and raced through the main room and over the furniture, flying up to the third floor where he knew Naruto would be in his room.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, pressing his hand up against his door and shoving it open.

Empty.

Sasuke whirled to the window and practically flew through it. Of course the idiot had to go farther away to make this harder, it made sense that he didn't want to be close to the village, but if Sasuke couldn't get there in time…

The world was moving at light speed around them, but Sasuke and Sakura were going in slow motion. Sasuke's feet pounding against the tree branches, cracking them under the speed, his arms pushing aside the branches as he ran, clearing the leaves from his eyes, his muscles wound to grab Naruto and hold him until he calmed down if it killed him, but even though the world was moving at light speed, the blast of chakra caused by the next crash of thunder was three million times faster, smashing into them with the burning, incinerating heat that pulsed through the forest, first just flaming wind, and then the shock wave hit.

Hundred-year-old giant trees exploded in on themselves and everything that was flammable incinerated into nothing but black ash. People miles away from the forest screamed as they were whipped off their feet by the power, and buildings caved in, flying backwards with the wind as it swept like a beast itself over the village, destroying anything too close in range. Sasuke vaguely registered Sakura screaming with the heat he could feel burning him alive before he was forced off of his feet along with the rest of everything within three miles and was rocketed back, smashing through what remained of the trees of the Konoha training grounds and shooting back out of the forest, skidding to a halt behind his house. Sasuke gasped, crying out as a tree branch stabbed through his arm and his spine almost snapped as he was thrown through another tree.

His eyes went wide as the treetops of a clearing in the forest seemed to evaporate into the black ash, rising into the sky as something as red as blood and hot as the sun slowly bubbled out of the opening.

"_**The time is nearing fast."**_ The Kyuubi's voice growled, loud and echoing over the hills, before the bubbling mass became the shape of a fox, transparent and constantly shifting shape like fire. The fox smiled, its gleaming white teeth glowing with the red aura, and it morphed again into a shapeless mass, shooting into the sky like a bolt of blood red lightning and disappeared into the black clouds.

Sasuke roared and flipped himself, land roughly on a tree branch that shattered beneath him before launching himself back towards the flaming forest.

"Naruto!" he yelled, raising his arm over his eyes to shield them from the scalding heat.

Meanwhile

The bolt of lightning-like fire streaked through the skies, incinerating clouds and smashing through cold masses of air to create freak thunderstorms that came seemingly out of nowhere to the people they rained down on. The fire again became the shape of a fox, looking down at the land, watching for something, before bubbling back into the shapeless bolt, streaking through the sky faster than the naked eye could detect.

"_**It's close."**_

The fire shot out of the sky and rocketed along the ground. It was faster than anyone could see, and first only a light breeze hit the people as it flashed by, but then the shock wave hit and entire villages were torn off the ground, people screaming as they were thrown miles through the air.

It was a red blur that would only have been seen if someone was looking for it. It soared like a bird with supersonic flight along the ground, leaving a burned trail from the heat as it flew through forests, villages and over mountains and cliffs.

The fire shot up into the sky again, hovering for a millisecond over a dark cliff, shrouded by clouds, before it blasted out of the sky like a bullet, blowing a hole through the side of the cliff as it smashed into the cave within. The heat set everything in and around the cave on fire, but its target wasn't the cave, it was the massive statue in the back, its hands out and open like it was holding a mass of chakra, the huge open mouth, waiting to drink up the power of the jinchuuriki and their demons, nine eyes, wide open and staring into the darkness, rocks like horns surrounding it's head, but the thing the Kyuubi wanted was inside.

The fire morphed into a fox again, hovering in the air in front of the statue as the eyes watched him, waiting to swallow his power along with the other demons.

The Kyuubi smiled dastardly. _**"In another lifetime."**_ He hissed before careening towards the nine eyes. _**"I have already been trapped, but soon that will end. I refuse to be captured again like a lab rat."**_

The explosion as he collided with the rock was more deafening than the destruction of all of the villages the Kyuubi had literally uprooted, and very slowly the fire and flaming wind blew the smoke away, revealing a single crack running down the center of the statue.

The crack popped and grew, small pieces of the stone chipping away as the demons inside tasted the freedom through the tiny fracture, and forced it to grow bigger, pushing against it with their powers.

All at once, the statue split in two, the two halves shattering and crumbling off into the cave, filling it with millions of tiny fragments, stained with the demons' chakra.

The auras of the demons flew out, leaving the cave through the hole the Kyuubi had knocked in the cave, every one of the different colored auras vanishing into the clouds and rocketing to different ends of the lands. All but one.

"_**And so you will be returning to Suna now."**_The Kyuubi smirked, the mass of fiery aura taking on its animalistic shape again.

"_**Ah, you and I still have to go back to babysitting the brats."**_ The Shukaku agreed, floating in a bubbling mass of a bloody, reddish-purple aura, two glowing eyes staring at the fox from the aura. _**"Damned humans and their need to own the world."**_

The Kyuubi chuckled darkly. _**"Good, if that is the way you still feel, then I have a proposition that I think you will be interested in."**_

"_**And what makes you think that I want to work with you now of all times?"**_ the Shukaku asked smartly, the aura twitching eagerly toward the freedom of the hole in the cave. They were both being drawn back to their jinchuuriki, like something was pulling them back, forcing them back into their cages.

"_**Because I know how to get free and to extract my revenge on the villages who sealed us."**_

"…_**Go on."**_ The Shukaku said, suddenly much more interested.

"_**It's simple enough, but both of the kits must be kept in the dark. Neither of them can be allowed to learn anything."**_

"_**I'm listening."**_ The aura drifted closer to the ground, where the Kyuubi's fox form was hovering, and morphed slowly into the Shukaku's true form, a bubbling, shifting form of the one-tailed demon. _**"Anything to make those humans suffer more I will gladly contribute to."**_

The Kyuubi's smile widened. _**"Good. Are you familiar with Orochimaru? The snake man who was a traitor to both Konoha and to the Akatsuki before starting his own village?"**_

"_**I thought he was dead, fox."**_

"_**Was, correct, until his right-hand man thought it would be a good idea to try to absorb some of his remains to become stronger."**_

The Shukaku blinked, pausing for a moment before roaring with laugher, the mass of demonic chakra shaking with its amusement.

"_**And just when you think humans can't get any stupider,"**_ it bellowed, wheezing with laughter, _**"they go and pull something like this on us!"**_

"_**During the time I was traveling in the kit with the Uchiha, I was able to use the prick as bait for Orochimaru because the snake man still wanted his body. It did put the kit in a little danger because I had been messing up his chakra control, but I was able to see into the snake man's chakra when the kit attacked him. As I thought he might, he had developed or discovered, either way, a special jutsu that is specifically designed for Kekkei Genkais."**_

"_**Interesting. This is starting to really interest me."**_ the Shukaku laughed again.

"_**I have two goal as of now, to annihilate the village that dared bind me into a human form after using me for their petty battles—"**_

"_**Can I ask how you plan on avoiding that this time?"**_ the Shukaku asked innocently. _**"I would rather not make deals with demons who are likely to turn on me."**_

The Kyuubi laughed again. _**"You don't need to worry, this has all been a little game from the beginning, with me at the controls. I had more than one reason for merging with the kit. Because it would stop him from disintegrating every time he used my power for a jutsu, because it would give me access to the outside world and to his body and chakra at any point when he is vulnerable, and because merging with a human would cut the ties that allowed them to control me. The Uchiha bloodline dared use their firepower to control my fire, but after merging with the kit, they no longer have control over my fire because it is not all fire. The kit's chakra, without my own, would have been wind, like his father. With the wind chakra, and the fact that he is human, both which the Uchihas have no control over, have rendered them unable to control my actions or my powers. I have two goals, to annihilate the village of the fourth Hokage, and to free myself from this flesh prison I am trapped in, or to at least take over it."**_

"_**Well I will gladly join with you on both accounts, as I can say that I share your views, but I myself have one other goal."**_

"_**And that is…?"**_

"_**To figure out why you would need me, and why you would go through the trouble of freeing me."**_

The Kyuubi smirked. _**"Because the kit trusts Gaara, and I can't use him, but **_**you**_** can. Gaara would be the last thing I needed for complete control over the kit, well, along with his body."**_

"_**And how do you plan on that?"**_ the raccoon demon asked accusingly.

"_**What if I told you that I helped to impregnate the kit—to give him the one thing he couldn't give the Uchiha, the one thing that he needed to be with the Uchiha—to gain his trust?"**_

"_**Interesting. Very interesting!" **_the Shukaku laughed, throwing his head back to the sky. _**"I will work with you on this fox, and I look forward to burying the village of the sand beneath ten million tons of its own element!"**_ the raccoon bubbled into a shapeless blob before flying out of the hole in the ceiling, being drawn like a magnet back to Suna, where Gaara was sleeping, unsuspecting of the evil that had taken place.

The Kyuubi chuckled to itself. _**"Well, Konoha's element isn't fire, but I look forward to burning the village with such a flammable element into the ground."**_

It too became the mass of chakra again before shooting into the clouds, racing back to Naruto's body.

Meanwhile

Gaara was sleeping, to which most of you will probably say something like 'stop kidding around', or 'I can't read this if you can't even keep the basics of the story straight', but the Shukaku had been gone for four years ever since the Akatsuki had sucked it from his soul. The one thing keeping him from sleeping, and then not dropping dead when he didn't sleep was gone. The first night he had been brought home to Suna after the incident with Akatsuki, the entire village had wanted to throw a party, but it had been cut short when he had fallen asleep leaning up against the wall, right in the middle of a conversation with the council. It had amused the young villagers to no end, and annoyed and offended the council almost as much, but try as they might they couldn't wake him up. The sand even attacked someone who tried to forcefully wake him up, so they just moved him to a chair and let him sleep for the next three days, and then thrown the party.

But, Gaara was sleeping, in a now fairly regular sleep pattern.

He was sleeping as the guards stood outside his door, against intruders.

He was sleeping as the clouds parted above Suna in a very irregular way, considering the wind.

He was asleep as a mass of bloody, reddish-purple chakra streaked out of the sky through the parted clouds.

He was sleeping.

Until the chakra smashed through the ceiling of the Kazekage tower with a deafening crash and began swallowing him whole.

"Kazekage-sama!" the guards yelled, bursting through the door of the room just to grind to a halt in horror.

The sand in the walls, the furniture, the ceiling; the sand in the air and the roads outside where being sucked toward Gaara like a black hole as he hung like a limp doll in the air, thrashing and groaning in his sleep.

"W-What…?" one of the guards asked.

"Go get his siblings!" the other barked, taking up an attack stance at the forming mass of sand. The other nodded and raced out of the room, screaming for the council, Temari and Kankuro.

Gaara forced his eyes open to the dark chakra and the pounding headache, staring down in confusion at the guard that looked like he was preparing to attack him.

Gaara gritted his teeth and grunted, pressing his hands over his eyes at the pressure in his head, pulsating through his mind and trying to force its way out through his temples. He drew his hand back slowly at the feeling of the right side of his face crumbling and stared at the sand he held in his hand. He twisted his hand over and over as the sand ran off until it was just his skin, and then his fingers turned to the light brown rock fragments and too began to crumble to the ground; the entire right side of his body was turning to the sand that couldn't hold together and falling to the floor.

"Gaara!" Kankuro and Temari yelled as they ran into the room. Temari gasped and her fan thunked to the ground, being buried in the sand belonging to the Kazekage's body.

Gaara watched as his arm completely disappeared before his eyes along with the right side of his body before the sand on the floor swirled like a whirlpool and swept up, again reshaping the right side of his body and coating his left side in the armor of sand.

"What is this…?" Kankuro yelled.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled again, trying to get her little brother's attention.

Gaara turned to face them slowly, the sand on his body taking on the colors of his clothes and skin, so that all but one thing was the same. Temari pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her scream, and one of the guards fainted as people began to accumulate in the streets to see what the blast had been.

Gaara's left eye was the same icy blue it always had been, but his right eye, was a swirling, demonic yellow that seemed to mock all it looked at. As they watched, that too became Gaara's normal color, but the presence that had turned it that hadn't left.

Gaara managed to move his hand enough to the get the sand to set him down on his feet, but it continued to swirl around him without his authorization, moving on its own accord.

"G-Gaara?"

_What is this?_ The darkness… he hadn't felt this since before…

"_**Did you miss me?"**_

Gaara's eyes widened in fear to the point where even Kankuro was worried about not staying conscious, because Gaara, to them, feared nothing.

"You." Gaara mouthed.

"_**What is it? You sound… upset."**_

Gaara clutched his head, stumbling back as the darkness in his head roared with amusement.

"N-No… mother…" he seemed to plead.

Temari gasped, backing farther away from him to the door. "Mother… no… it can't be… **that**…"

"That thing was sealed away." Kankuro spat, taking his puppet off his back and banging it onto the floor. The sand shot up out of the swirling mass on the floor and slammed it back out of his hand and into the wall.

And then Gaara started to laugh, dark and sinister, a laugh that was not his own as he clutched his head.

"_**I'm back."**_ The dark voice came out of Gaara's mouth, the right side of his mouth twisting up into a cruel smile as his right eye flashed yellow again, the left side of his face remaining horrified and pained, his left eye remaining ice blue.

AAAAAHHHH! I know! I'm cruel!

But how's that for a twist to the plot? Not what you expected? Things are heating up!

RR&R!

(Read Rate & Review!)

Thanks for reading!

We have cookies on the dark side for all who review!

I'm going to hell, that's it; I'm going to hell for everything I put these characters through.

I wouldn't worry though, you'll like the ending, just keep reading!


	17. The Labyrinth

I don't own anything but my ideas!

The Labyrinth

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, heaving aside a large hunk of what he was pretty sure used to be the Cliffside near the Hokage Mountain as he tried to clear a path to somewhere where he could get to the clearing in the forest he had seen the Kyuubi in.

Sasuke found his footing on a crumbling piece of a nearby shattered boulder and leapt into the burning trees, ripping away at the chunks of wood and rock as fast as he could. He blasted the rest of the rubble away with the chidori and forced his way into the clearing, coming face to face with the blood red eyes with the black slit pupils.

"_**You left him alone."**_

Sasuke clenched his fists and stumbled back, away from the flaming air around Naruto's body.

"_**You left him alone in a thunderstorm, and he wouldn't let me out to comfort him, so instead of letting him incinerate the world with more of our chakra, I have come out and hidden him from the storm."**_ The Kyuubi snarled, rising slowly into the air, floating out of the hole in the canopy of blackened, burning leaves. He looked around him at the fires engulfing the village and the forest, and a huge grin spread across his face, fangs poking out over his bottom lip.

"Kyuubi let him go!" Sasuke roared, grabbing a branch from what had been a two hundred foot tall tree and flipping himself up.

"_**I can't Uchiha, the kit was in such turmoil when I came out that it was damn near impossible for me **_**to **_**come out. But I was able to, and unfortunately for you, to do that, I had to seal the kit away."**_

"What?" Sasuke barked as people began to accumulate around the forest, where he could see them from a hundred feet up in the tree, the rest had been blown away in the explosion. People were shouting for Naruto, shouting for him, yelling that it was the Kyuubi again, but Sasuke could only hear what the Kyuubi was saying.

The Kyuubi barked a quick, amused laugh. _**"The kit is gone Uchiha, locked away in his own mind, unable to even look into the outside world anymore. He doesn't know what I am doing now, and he wont ever. It is like he has been forced into a sleep that he will never wake up from."**_

"Uchiha! What the hell happened?" Tsunade barked, landing beside him on the remainder of the tree.

"_**Ah, the old witch the kit speaks so highly of."**_ The Kyuubi smirked.

"What did you do to Naruto?" she snapped.

"…_**Unfortunately, human, the only person I wish to fight today, is the Uchiha."**_

Sasuke leapt back and drew his sword, his feet sliding into an attack stance.

"I can't allow that." Tsunade snarled, fisting her hands. "You will have to take me on, I will not allow anyone from Konoha to be—"

"_**Humans,"**_ the Kyuubi growled, he was loosing his patience fast, _**"you all think you can stop the sun from rising."**_

A thin aura wound around the Kyuubi, the heat snaking out of the ground as it surrounded Naruto's body with the red shell. The world was still, and then suddenly a clawed, flaming hand of the aura burst out of the ground, lunging at Tsunade. She leapt back, just barely missing the hand by inches, but the Kyuubi wasn't done. Clawed hands erupted from the ground by the dozens, all directly below where Tsunade was.

_He has complete access to the outside, and to all of his and Naruto's chakra._ Sasuke thought as he watched Tsunade leap away from the hands grabbing at her, all missing by mere inches.

Tsunade leapt into the air, avoiding another hand, when a rift suddenly tore in the sky, revealing a flaming place through the opening where another hand shot out of and slashed at Tsunade. She dodged with a grunt at the impossible twist she was forced to make in the air, but a claw tore down her shoulder, creating a particularly large gash in her skin.

She landed on the ground, holding the burning wound and glaring at the Kyuubi, when the wound started to glow like the red aura around the Kyuubi. Tsunade gasped, and again tried to leap back from the heat, but this time it stayed with her, and the clawed hands sprung directly from her shoulder and wrapped around her, immobilizing all of her movement with one move.

"_**I wouldn't try anything human, unless you want to be roasted in fire hotter than the sun before you can blink."**_ the Kyuubi laughed,

_**Useless**__. _Sasuke growled as he looked back to the Kyuubi, rolling his sword in his hands.

"_**It looks like you're ready."**_ The Kyuubi smirked. _**"Then let's begin."**_

Sasuke charged forward as the Kyuubi opened his mouth, and single spark of chakra hovered above his tongue, crackling and flickering with the pressure. He waited until Sasuke was close enough, and then spit the chakra at him, the chakra exploding like an atom bomb.

Sasuke's sword crackled with lightning as he slashed through the explosion, again charging the Kyuubi when he was through the fire.

The Kyuubi laughed and launched himself into the fire and lightning, slashing at Sasuke with his claws and trying to bite through his windpipe.

Sasuke flipped back, dodging the deadly, flaming claws as he slashed at the Kyuubi. He was good, and landed several hits even in the first few minutes, but it didn't matter. The Kyuubi wasn't taking care not to get hit, every mark Sasuke made was instantly healed by the Kyuubi's aura.

The Kyuubi's dark laugh filled the skies as he landed a vicious bite to Sasuke's arm, sinking his smoldering fangs into Sasuke's arm and tearing the skin like cloth as Sasuke ripped his arm back.

Sasuke flipped far enough away as he healed the wound so the fire didn't spread to the rest of his body in the least, looking around him for the best way to defeat the Kyuubi and wake Naruto the hell up.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up as Neji landed beside him, Sakura right behind him.

"We need to wake Naruto up." Neji said, the veins around his eyes clearly showing that he was using the Sharingan to see into the battle.

"What do you see? In the Kyuubi?" Sasuke said, picking up his sword and standing.

Neji formed the hand signs again, the veins around his eyes popping more as they became more strained.

"It's a strange place…" Neji said slowly, clearly confused. "It's… it's a labyrinth, with shifting walls and lava, and a cage at the center surrounded by water." He narrowed his eyes again before saying darkly, "Naruto's in the cage."

"What is he doing?" Sasuke demanded.

Neji paused before shaking his head, his eyes scanning the Kyuubi's form as he did. "Nothing."

"**Nothing**?"

"He looks like he's sleeping."

"Fuck." Sasuke swore. _A labyrinth. The damn fox is just going to make this is hard as he can for me, but how did he change Naruto's mind that much? Is it… the__** Kyuubi's**__ mind?_

"I need to get in there, to try and wake Naruto." Sasuke said, sliding his sword back into its sheath.

"Go **in** there?" Sakura screeched. "How could you want to go **in** when what's **out** is as dangerous as a hydrogen bomb?"

"Bomb…" Neji said slowly, "how much of a distraction do you need?"

"Enough of one to get me close enough to him, but preferably one he wont expect. And then I need someone to protect my physical body while I'm in his mind, I don't know if he can be in and out of his mind at the same time."

"So then a puny and pathetic distraction will work?"

"Whatever you want." Sasuke snapped leaning into a crouch. "Cover me."

"Naruto will never forgive himself if you die." Neji told him, moving to stand beside him.

"Naruto will never exist again if I don't go in there." Sasuke returned, and dashed forward. He flipped over the blasts of chakra the Kyuubi sent at them, launching himself at the Kyuubi when he was in range. Kunai flew by his head like bullets, and Sasuke was about to yell something very derogatory at Neji for throwing them so close to him before the Kyuubi slashed at the kunai, and the exploded before him.

_Exploding tags!_ It was brilliant. It was such a puny distraction for a demon that the Kyuubi—whose surprised expression gave this all away—had completely not expected any of it.

Sasuke flew through the smoke, coming face to face with the blood red eyes before he landed in a room, glowing with a red light, the heat about to singe his eyelashes off, and a ceiling so high he couldn't see it through the black. An archway, almost as high as the ceiling, stood before him, where the area beyond it broke into three different passageways.

Sasuke swallowed again, running his arm over the sweat on his forehead from the heat before walking slowly through the archway. Neji had said something about lava—Sasuke whirled around to the sound of clinking metal, watching as the archway barred itself over with chains. He turned back to the three passageways, looking between each one before walking over to the right wall directly next to the archway. He placed his hand on the wall and started walking.

Sasuke's eyes flicked around him, scanning for everything there was as he walked. He kept his hand on the right wall, following it the entire way. A sudden heat behind him caused him to look behind, and he jumped out of reflex as lava began to swirl out of the floor. Sasuke wrenched forward, keeping as close to the right wall as he could, racing through the passageways and skidding against the blazing floor as he ran. His black ANBU outfit was soaking up heat like a sponge, and the metal in the armor was burning his skin, but he didn't stop.

Sasuke slid against the floor in a larger room than the others, about to take the next right turn when the floor started to crumble before him, revealing a steaming pit of lava and fire below him. Sasuke slammed his feet against the floor before it was completely gone and leapt over the pit to the right turn, racing along it. He dodged the streams of flame that shot from the walls and slid down onto his stomach to slide through tunnels as the lava continued to pour out of the floor behind him.

Sasuke slid to a halt in one of the rooms, looking in shock and relief to an opening between the passageways where he could make out the cage that had originally held the Kyuubi. Sasuke took off for it, just about to run out of the maze when fire burst up in from of him, and parted to reveal another wall that had blocked his way. Sasuke had gathered too much momentum to stop, so instead he jumped and landed on the wall, taking the next right as he used the wall to run on.

Sasuke flew through the maze, leaving a trail of chakra where he ran so he wouldn't double over anywhere he'd been before, speeding up as he could feel a breeze in the air. It was a labyrinth, there should have been no air movement like this except for close to the exit, and all of a sudden, the wall he was running on shattered, and he fell into the boiling water around the giant cage.

Sasuke threw himself to his feet, rocketing himself forward with as big of chakra bursts as he dared the second the cage came into sight. His breathing was ragged already in his lungs from the fighting and the running through the maze, but his physical body was in so much danger while he was in here, he couldn't stay long unless he wanted to get everyone protecting him killed.

Sasuke gasped in shock at just how hot the knee-deep water was when he broke free of the labyrinth's confides, but he pushed himself forward, forcing himself to ignore the excruciating burns he would have.

His breath jumped in relief as the bars of the huge cage came into sight, and he knew he was close when he could make out the intricate seal on the cage doors.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled even before he reached the bars. He roared in aggravation, the water was slowing down his speed, and the burning temperature was excruciating, but he couldn't use chakra to run above the water or risk damaging Naruto's mind.

"Naruto!" Sasuke slammed into the bars of the cage, looking around frantically for anything inside.

And there he was.

A form lying on the ground in the distance.

The golden hair falling into his calmly closed eyes, the symmetrical whisker-like scars, the breathtaking tanned body.

He was breathing.

He was alive.

"Naruto!" Sasuke drew back his fist and pounded on the bars, ignoring their rattling and the way the seal sent sparks traveling over the door every time he hit it. "Naruto! Damn it! **Wake up**!"

"_**He won't." **_

Sasuke whirled around to the dark voice, staring with burning hatred up at the form floating above the water.

"_**The poor kit is tired. He hasn't slept since you told him that I take over his body when he's asleep. You created another Gaara-insomniac, I congratulate you."**_

Sasuke glared up at the Kyuubi's human form, taken from both Naruto and his own fox body, and the Kyuubi just smiled back sinisterly.

His skin was tan, tanner than Naruto's had ever been even after the merging; it was almost brown. The scars on his cheeks were black and thick, even darker than Naruto's when he lost control, and long, dangerous claws were visible, resting carefully on his crossed arms. He had Naruto's body and hair, with one streak of blood red in it, and his canines were larger than Naruto's even when transformed. His eyes, unlike Naruto's blue eyes, had bled blood red and his pupils were slits.

He was wearing the usual black ninja pants, the bandages wrapping around his ankles showing because of the pant's short length, and he was barefoot, showing the claws on his toes. Spiked forearms protectors were the only covering he wore on his arms. He was bare-chested, though he wore a short sleeved coat much like the fourth Hokage had, but with black coloring and red flames on the hem. The flames seemed to dance in their thread confides, and a live flame was burning on the necklace he wore.

"Bastard." Sasuke snarled, his hands fisting until they were white from the pressure.

"_**As I have said before brat, you are truly an idiot."**_ The Kyuubi smirked, slowly descending until he was floating an inch above the water. _**"You have guts to come in here, being unable to do anything, but that doesn't make you a genius, it just makes you stupid."**_

"What did you do to Naruto?" Sasuke yelled, feeling his chakra shoot through the roof with his anger.

"_**Relax Uchiha, he's only asleep."**_ The Kyuubi smiled lightly, infuriating Sasuke more.

With a roar Sasuke grabbed his wrist and whipped around, slamming the chidori into the bars as hard as he could. They rattled, and the seal sparked like electrical wires in a thunderstorm, but Naruto didn't even twitch.

"_**I told you, he wont wake."**_

Sasuke whirled around, preparing to attack the Kyuubi next when the fox spoke, the voice that was too deep and sinister coming out of Naruto's mouth making him sick.

"_**Do you remember when I told you I was going to fry your mind through Naruto?"**_ he asked innocently, fire engulfing his arm as he spoke.

"_**I meant it."**_ He smirked sadistically and threw his arm forward, the fire whirling in a deadly, unavoidable ball at Sasuke. Sasuke stumbled back at the heat, forcing himself to fall out of Naruto's mind faster than he ever should have to dodge the flame in time.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

Sasuke groaned and forced his eyes open, though the world stayed black for the first few seconds, but slowly he was able to make out the pink hair of Sakura Haruno. He mentally groaned again.

"Sasuke! Wake up!" Sakura pulled him harshly upward and into her arms, and he cursed himself for being too weak to push her away. The Kyuubi may not have hit him physically, but its mind was fucking **strong**. His headache was about to split his head in two. He looked around to the surroundings of the burning forest. It was Practice Area 44, or the Forest of Death, the second part of the chunin exam.

"Please wake up!"

"Sasuke, we need to leave." Neji's voice appeared by him. "He's dangerous, and you barely able to stay conscious is a little unnerving. He's lost himself to the fox."

"Naruto would never do this!" Sakura screamed. **Right in his ear**.

"Damn fox attacked me, that's why I'm drained." Sasuke growled, summoning the thunderclouds above him. "I already tried chidori, I'm going to step it up a notch. The lightening will paralyze him even if it doesn't knock him out; that may be all we need to wake Naruto up. Sakura, let go of me. I need to try another attack and try and wake Naruto up." Sasuke breathed.

He reached up and touched at the sticky moisture on his cheeks, holding his hand out to examine it. He grimaced instantly, and reached up with his other hand to scrub at his cheeks. It was blood, oozing from his eyes like crimson rain. Now he knew why Sakura was so worried, he probably would have been too if he hadn't been so pumped full of adrenaline. He looked around curiously, and sure enough, his peripheral vision was extremely blurry and small black spots were starting to appear in his eyes from over use of the Sharingan. How had he not noticed those before?

"But—"

"If this is anything like Gaara, then when he wakes up, the Kyuubi will be sealed away again. Now let go of me." he ordered darkly. Sakura slowly stepped back to let the lightning concentrate around him, molding and shaping into a sword. Sasuke took a deep breath, and charged.

"…He doesn't want us to help, so what now? Should we try to find something to seal the Kyuubi's chakra?" Sakura asked.

"Now we just wait." Neji said quietly.

Sakura nodded after a moment. "Sasuke's strong, he'll be ok." She tried to ignore the slight hesitant waver in her voice.

Sasuke concentrated all of his energy into the lightning shattering the air above him, the tingling in his arm as he held the blue fires of the heavens making him quiver with the excitement and the feeling of danger. The lightning filled the black sky, illuminating the ground with the blue light as it crashed through the air around them.

He jumped and flipped as fast as he could to the top of the nearly demolished tower in the middle of the Forest of Death. It was crumbling around him, but it was high enough and stood sturdy enough to hold him while he used this jutsu.

He raised his hand toward the sky, the lighting filling his hand as the shrill chirping of a thousand birds filled the air for miles around.

"This jutsu is impossible to dodge." He told the Kyuubi, watching its face contort with confusion, though the amusement stayed present. "Lightning travels through the air at 1/1000 per second, and the range is to wide to run from it… **come**!"

The thunder boomed above them as an ice blue dragon, glowing with the power of the lightning, slid out of the black sky and soared around Sasuke before returning to the heavens.

"Vanish with the roar of thunder… Kirin!" Sasuke yelled, slicing his hand through the air at the Kyuubi. The dragon shot out of the sky with a roar louder than thunder, and rocketed at the Kyuubi faster than anything but the Sharingan could follow. Sasuke was just able to glimpse the flash of a red fox, made of the Kyuubi's flaming chakra, charging the dragon, before an explosion to shame even the one the Kyuubi had created earlier when Naruto had lost control of his chakra, blasted the forest into a billion fragments of chakra.

Sasuke's breathing was jagged and scraped up his throat, creating a lingering burn that made it even harder to breathe, and he was almost completely drained of chakra, and then the smoke from the explosion cleared.

"No." Sakura whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. "That's impossible, his chakra was…!" she protested shrilly.

Sasuke's eyes were wide… with what, anger? Hate? No… fear? Maybe, for the first time since going up against his brother. Yes, it was definitely fear.

"_**You humans are so time-consuming." **_The Kyuubi muttered, his arms crossed in a very relaxed stance. The flaming fox had exploded with the dragon into streams of burning chakra, and had completely surrounded the Kirin, constricting all of the lightning's movement. _**"Didn't your mother ever tell you that lightening and fire don't mix safely?"**_ the Kyuubi smirked, before roaring and throwing the lightning to the side with the fire, where it soared through the air before smashing into the ground.

The attack had completely drained Sasuke, and it hadn't even touched the Kyuubi. Sasuke gritted his teeth and moved to jump back when a red, clawed smashed out of the ground wrapped around his body his body, pinning Sasuke's arms to his side and completely immobilizing him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed, and shot toward Sasuke as fast as she could.

"It didn't even… touch him." Neji mumbled.

"_**Well, for a human you do have an astounding amount of chakra, but still…"**_ Kyuubi murmured, raising his hand slowly, where a swirling orange ball of fiery wind was condensing in his palm.

_The Rasengan._ Sasuke's brow furrowed weakly, his grip starting to slip on the hand squeezing his neck and keeping him suspended in midair. (Note: don't tell me the Rasengan is blue, because I know that. This is using the Kyuubi's **fiery** chakra, so it makes it orange.)

"_**One of the kit's favorite moves because of his father, and first of the strong ones, much like your chidori."**_ The Kyuubi purred. _**"Funny, you succeeded where the kit never thought you could: your usefulness finally ran out." **_He moved his arm slowly to aim the Rasengan at Sasuke's chest.

"Stop!" Sakura shrieked. _His chakra! It's almost drained! That's not possible! __**He's Sasuke Uchiha**__!_

"Naruto, please don't! We have to bring Sasuke home!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face. "Get a hold of yourself! Do you even see what you're doing?"

"_**He will be home."**_ The Kyuubi hummed contently, about to fire the energy through Sasuke's heart. _**"He'll finally join his family, in hell."**_

"_**Hmm…"**_ he murmured suddenly, his clawed hand stopping in mid air, his red eyes moving back to stare deep into Sasuke's black ones.

The Kyuubi's face dropped slightly, but not in sadness or horror. No, something else, like… excitement. At least thank god Sakura was to busy screaming to have heard what the Kyuubi said next, or there would have been hell to pay.

"_**Actually…" **_Kyuubi purred slowly.

Now **that** tone of voice was fucking scary. It was predatory, merciless, wicked, scheming, and meant to cause pain for others. Sasuke felt his grip on Kyuubi's hand tighten unconsciously.

"_**Uchiha, did the kit ever tell you why he had those… symptoms? The throwing up, the headaches, the soreness…?"**_

Now the Kyuubi's face was dangerous, and his hand tightened on Sasuke's neck, cutting off his air even more.

"_**While he was staying with the sand child in Suna, he found out something rather interesting about a certain kind of jutsu that can often help… infertile couples."**_

The headaches. The sore chest and shoulders. The bloating. The sickness. The fevers. The mood swings. All of a sudden, it all made sense.

"…You… impregnated Naruto?" he asked weakly. _Holy __**shit**__._

The Kyuubi smiled, and shook its head slowly. _**"You did."**_

Sasuke eyes popped, and his hand gripped the demon's hand tighter, even for his half strangled, half passed out state.

"_**I merely helped to alter his body so that he could carry the kits."**_ Kyuubi shrugged easily.

"…Naruto is…"

"_**Pregnant."**_ The Kyuubi nodded.

The silence was painful, agonizingly painful, and Sasuke was almost out of air. This was **bad**.

"_**And to know that now, it would be more painful if you were killed by… what did you call them… Naruto's sides?"**_

Sasuke froze. The Kyuubi was going to release the fourth side and make Naruto kill them himself. He had to try once more to wake Naruto up. He didn't have enough chakra to do anything else, and after he did this, he was positive he was going to go unconscious from how little chakra he would have left, but he had to try.

His eyes flew open, more blood pouring down his face, the Sharingan whirled, and again he was falling.

Sasuke started running even before he touched the ground, shooting forward with the upward momentum of the sweltering air surrounding Naruto's mind.

He flew into the maze, taking the same directions as he had last time, right, left, right, right, straight, taking care to avoid the pits of lava and the fire before he threw himself through the hole he had accidentally blown through the wall.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, running above the water this time. He'd used the chidori in Naruto's mind and it had done nothing, so using chakra like this must have been relatively safe.

"Naruto!" Sasuke slammed into the bars. "Naruto! Wake the hell up unless you want everyone to die!"

Nothing.

Sasuke bit his lip. If that didn't work, what else was going to wake Naruto up?

"The Kyuubi broke free! You're going to kill everyone if you don't lock him away again!"

Sasuke whirled to the Kyuubi's sick laugh behind him, drawing closer by the second. His red fox eyes and sharp teeth formed out of the darkness, just like the giant fox ones he'd seen at one time behind the bars.

He didn't know what to do, Naruto was still sleeping, like the first time when Kyuubi had let him fall into the lake and made Sasuke rescue him.

"_Right now, Naruto is asleep, and being his team mate for as long as you were, you must know how much of a heavy sleeper he is. I'm going to 'help' him stay asleep… he's been going a lot lately."_

That was what the fox had said to him before sending Naruto over the edge of the cliff. He'd woken Naruto up then, but **how**? Naruto had breathed in water, and Sasuke had given him the air he needed to…

"_I'm going to 'help' him stay asleep."_

But then, it wouldn't have been the air that woke Naruto up…

Sasuke's eyes widened and his grip on the bars tightened until the burning temperature of the metal had his palms blistering and bleeding, the blood dripping down the bars until it turned black with the heat and crumbled off the metal in small black flakes.

He'd kissed him.

To breathe into Naruto's lungs, he'd kissed him.

The Kyuubi wanted them together to create the baby… it wasn't the water that had been keeping Naruto from breathing… it had been the Kyuubi.

"_**Your time is up, Uchiha."**_

The Kyuubi was close, but he couldn't get anywhere near enough to Naruto to touch him, let alone kiss him…

Sasuke's lip pulled back in a snarl and he gripped the bars tighter and sucked in a huge breath.

"**I want you to have my son**!"

Nothing.

Sasuke felt his hands shake on the bars, and his breathing stop.

The Kyuubi laughed again. _**"Well, that went a long way—"**_

The world quaked suddenly, and Sasuke would have been thrown back if his grip wasn't so tight on the burning cage.

He could see them, through the bars of the cage.

Two sky blue eyes.

"_**No."**_ the Kyuubi snarled as the ground shook again, and the bars of the cage rattled menacingly.

"_**You're dead, human!"**_ it roared.

Sasuke whirled, and something as hot as the sun ripped through his chest, gouging deep into his flesh and snapping through bone like bamboo sticks. Sasuke gasped out, collapsing back into the boiling water and choking as it rushed into his lungs.

The ground beneath him rocked again, and the Kyuubi roared, throwing its head back and snarling at the sky.

_I have to get out of here… _Sasuke thought weakly, his lungs filling with water. It didn't matter that he wasn't in his physical body, if he drowned mentally, then his body would cease to function.

_I have to get out… _

_I have to…_

_I have… _

_I…_

_I..._

…_Naruto…_

Everything was blurry before him, and he couldn't breathe with the scalding water rushing into his lungs through the holes the Kyuubi had torn.

And everything went black.

RR&R!

And also the scale of one to ten thingy.

Working on the next chapter, don't have a lot of time, got to go!


	18. What Is He to You?

I don't own anything but my ideas.

What Is He To You?

"But he's going to be ok, right? I mean, he **has** to be ok! With the weirdo eyes and the chakra, I couldn't have—"

"Firstly, shut up brat! Do you want to wake every patient in the hospital?" Tsunade bellowed.

"You're one to talk—" Naruto grumbled.

"Secondly," her tone was suddenly much gentler, "Naruto, whatever happens to Sasuke, it was because of **nothing** that you did, do you understand? Blame the council for locking you up, blame me for not figuring out that you're afraid of thunder, blame Sasuke for putting himself in danger like that, blame the guards for not keeping a close enough eye on you, but do not blame yourself. Just because the Kyuubi is in your mind does not mean that he's you."

"But he **is** me old hag! That's what I've been trying to tell you! We merged! And now he's… he's me. That's why he got out so easily. He's dormant now, because we reversed positions, but… he's still me."

Tsunade was silent, most likely in horror, before she spoke again. "Naruto, your mind is yours and yours alone. Not the Kyuubi's, **yours**. Do you understand?"

"So is he going to be ok?" Naruto asked weakly. "And do I have to wear this thing?" he tapped something that sounded like metal, and Sasuke realized that he must have had the collar and cuffs put on him like the ones Sasuke had had last time.

"…Well," Tsunade said after a large pause, "his physical wounds are fairly regular, even for Uchihas because of the Sharingan. He's not the first Uchiha who's taken this much damage to their eyes that's been brought into this hospital… but… if the damage is extensive enough, he also wont be the first to have lost their eyes because of the final stage of the Sharingan. He has medicine that we've been putting in for the past few days, and he shouldn't look at any light for another two weeks, so he'll need an escort, but it's still uncertain if he'll even keep his eyes at all—"

"But why is he taking so long to wake up?" Naruto wailed. "I don't care if he's blind, I'll be his personal Seeing Eye dog—err, fox, for life if he needs it, but… it's already been two weeks and he's still as conscious as a dead body!"

"Naruto, stop yelling." Tsunade repeated with a loud sigh. "Neji was able to see the most of what happened in this fight with the Byakugan, and from what he's told me, while Sasuke was inside your mind, the Kyuubi attacked his mind directly, endangering him much more than if just his physical body was attacked. Naruto…" she paused, the pain for Naruto obvious in her voice, "you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that he wont wake up at all."

Naruto was silent, deathly silent.

"His fever has gone down over the past few days from 106.2 degrees to 100.7, and there is still a possibility that he will wake up, but there's also—Naruto?" (Note: yes, 106.2 degrees for a fever is possible without dying or causing brain damage, look it up)

The door creaked open softly, and feet padded up to the side of his bed. Sasuke felt heavy, and sick, like he was still in a dream.

"Hey, you can't be in here." Someone stepped in Naruto's path. "There are no visitors allowed." Sasuke recognized the voice as one of the ANBU who'd been guarding him last time.

"Move." Naruto said dangerously, making all of the ANBU—the entire team was in there guarding Sasuke—shift uneasily.

"Naruto." Tsunade warned. "Please, we still need to do the ultrasound to make sure the baby is—"

"Get out of my way." Naruto snarled through gritted teeth, the chakra in the room swelling in warning. "I've killed enough already, and I don't want to anymore, but I will hurt you if you don't get the **fuck** out of my way."

Sasuke's head felt like it had been filled with lead, and he could almost feel the fire still burning where the Kyuubi had slashed at him. His breath was coming in short jagged bursts, and it was dark. He couldn't see anything, there was something over his eyes. He felt himself shudder and his skin went cold, like he'd all of a sudden become nyctophobic. He swallowed silently and tried to keep his body from shaking.

He wanted to cry, and that made him sick. Everyone was right, he would never be as good as Itachi.

Never good enough.

A shaky moan escaped his lips before he could hold it back in his state. He felt drugged and vulnerable, like an infant.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, taking another step forward.

"You can't—" the ANBU moved in his way again.

The next sounds were easy to distinguish. Someone—Naruto—grabbing the cloth on the ANBU's shirt and hurling him over the bed where he smashed into the wall and the rest of the ANBU drew their swords, preparing to attack.

"Let him be!" Tsunade yelled keeping her distance from Naruto as well.

Sasuke felt two hands cup his face and stroke his cheek gently with its thumb.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered.

Sasuke numbly lifted his hand and grabbed one of the hands, leaning into Naruto's palm. He heard Naruto sigh loudly in relief and he began to relax at the closeness. It didn't matter if he couldn't see anything, it didn't matter if it was dark. He could feel and he could hear, and Naruto was here. This wasn't just another dream.

Sasuke curiously focused attention on the rest of his body, and was eventually able to determine that he had the collar, wrist cuffs, ankle cuffs that were chained together and to the bed, and the bed and windows all had seals that would suppress chakra. Inwardly, he was amused at the fact that they were trying so hard to suppress not only his chakra but Naruto's too, and Naruto had just gotten a little bit protective and his chakra had shot through the roof, cuffs, collar, seals and all. Sooner or later they were bound to realize that nothing they did would be able to hold back the Kyuubi's astronomical amount of power except for Naruto himself. Idiots. It also seemed that there was some sort of bandage—judging from the material—covering his eyes as it wrapped around his head.

"Naruto, you've been through a lot of stress too, you should be resting." Tsunade said gently. "And we **have** to do your ultrasound, this technique hasn't been used to our knowledge in decades, there's many things that could have gone wrong with anything. It wont be like other couples using this jutsu because it was the fox's chakra, not yours or Sasuke's. The baby could be reacting badly to being in a womb that isn't genetically yours or Sasuke's, and because it happened while you were under the Kyuubi's influence, it's also possible that your own body could be rejecting the changes to your anatomy. It's very dangerous for males to use this jutsu, it's mostly used for infertile females, not to mention that this… **merging** with the Kyuubi has you running a regular 112 degrees 24/7 that could also be hurting the baby."

"_Because it happened while you were under the Kyuubi's influence'? Then… she thinks that Naruto and I didn't want to do this? She thinks Naruto went berserk and raped me to get himself pregnant._ The thought made his shudder, Naruto was not a rapist, Kyuubi or not. _But then… no one knows about Naruto and I? They just think we're just… friends._ Another thought that made him shiver, but he wasn't ready to admit he knew why.

"…Later old hag."

"Naru—"

"I will! But… later."

Sasuke wanted to say something, to tell the ANBU to get the hell out or for Tsunade to close the freaking door, but his voice was heavier than wet sand, and felt as thick as it too, he couldn't even get his voice box to force another groan up his throat.

"Hokage." A nurse said from the door.

"Yes?"

"It's time for his eye drops."

"Ah yes." Tsunade nodded and let the nurse by as she flicked the lights off with a small click.

_My eyes are so delicate now that I can't even look at light?_ Sasuke thought dryly.

"Can I do it?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"…I, um… I guess… I don't think there would be a problem." The nurse said quietly.

Sasuke limply let a hand slide under his neck and lift his head off the pillow, carefully taking the bandage blinding him off his head while someone closed the shades and door, blocking out all the light that would further damage his eyes.

The bandage fell off and Sasuke blinked experimentally, his eyes trying to stay closed because of the burning sting. Everything was so blurry, he could make out the mop of blonde hair over him, but everything else was almost invisible in the haziness.

"Keep your eyes open." Naruto held something that Sasuke assumed was the medicine over his face.

"I know, Dobe."

"Teme." Naruto shot back, holding Sasuke's bottom lid open with his thumb as he let three drops fall into the obsidian eyes. Sasuke flinched at the cold and the stickiness of the liquid as a little leaked from his eye and down his cheek, and shut his eye firmly as Naruto moved to his other eye, holding it open like he had the other one.

Sasuke blinked after a minute, finally able to tolerate the dimming sting from the cold and was able to make out the blue of Naruto' eyes, and even the scars on his cheeks, but nothing else was really distinguishable.

"Naruto, I want you two to stay in this room, everyone else, out. I need to speak to the ANBU alone, and I need an update on Uchiha's medications. Naruto, **stay here**." Tsunade threatened with a growl, opening the door and ushering everyone out, closing it and sealing it behind her to make sure they didn't make another run for it. Sasuke was too weak to, but there was still a chance that Naruto would just carry him out.

Sasuke groaned and grabbed the back of Naruto's neck the second they were alone, pulling himself up and crushing their lip together. Naruto wrapped his arms firmly around Sasuke, holding him closer. They melted against each other, tongues thrashing between their lips and hands roughly roaming each other's bodies. With a sharp breath, Sasuke moved to yank Naruto's shirt over his head. He couldn't explain it, how **secure** he felt with the knowledge that Naruto was safe and the Kyuubi was dormant and wouldn't torment Naruto.

"Sasuke, s…stop." Naruto pushed him away gently, reaching for the bandage that would completely cover his eyes. "We have to be careful of light."

Sasuke made a move to stop him, but then let it go. What was the point? He was in no condition to try and fight a demon host, whether or not the Kyuubi was dormant, Naruto was still as strong as if the fox was as active as ever.

Naruto wrapped the bandage slowly over his eyes until all the light was gone. But now… Sasuke didn't care about the dark anymore. There was no need to fear it, Naruto was so bright, so like the sun all on his own, that he would always be able to see through the blackness in front of him, even if it seemed hopeless to get through to others.

Sasuke sat back dejectedly, shocked when Naruto pulled him back up into the kiss. Sasuke threw himself into it—with as much force as he had in his weak stage, which wasn't much at all—wrapping his arms tightly around Naruto's neck before he pulled away to breathe as he was suddenly **extremely** dizzy.

Naruto thankfully caught on quickly and helped to lower him back down to the pillow, fixing the blankets around him much to Sasuke's annoyance. He hated being pampered and doted over, which was why hospitals were one of his least favorite places.

Sasuke reached out carefully when Naruto had sat back down on the chair by the bed and traced up Naruto's thigh until his hand came to rest on Naruto's stomach where a fairly large bump was protruding under his palm.

"So how along are you now?" he forced his voice to ask, no matter how much it sounded like it was being dragged over a cheese grater. "You have to be **at least** two months."

Naruto stiffened and then sat back, trying to lean away from Sasuke's hand. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out through the bastard fox. And, it's um… three…and a half… months, not two."

Silence. The silence was like the dark, he hated it.

"So… are you ok with…it?" Naruto asked weakly. "I mean, you and Karin… or Sakura… could still… if you didn't want… if you wanted a **wife** and normal kids without a cursed—"

"Shut up." Sasuke's hand snapped up to cover Naruto's mouth, effectively cutting off all of what he was going to say next.

"Just stop talking Dobe." Shit, how the hell was he supposed to say this? Well, might as well just say it flat out. "Usuratonkachi, I don't care about the fox, and I don't care that you're loud and obnoxious."

He smirked as he felt Naruto stiffen again, this time in embarrassment and annoyance.

"I don't care. I don't care that you're a guy, and I don't care that the fox helped to create this…this…" _this __**miracle**__._ "I don't care." He could repopulate his clan, and he didn't have to destroy Naruto in doing so. The Kyuubi was a fucking blessing right now.

"Did you mean it? What you said, about me having your son?" Naruto asked meekly.

"Usuraton—"

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke groaned out loud and Naruto looked sharply toward the door, pulling away from Sasuke's hand and standing over at the other end of the room as the door banged open and a particularly loud female ninja flung herself on top of Sasuke, knocking the wind out of his lungs with the force of a wrecking ball.

"Oh Sasuke!" Sakura sobbed into his chest, her arms tight around his neck. The part that just put the icing on the cake (that's sarcasm, people) was the fact that he might as well have been blind with the bandage on and he was too far weak to throw her out of his room. God hated him.

"Sasuke, I was so scared for you!" she wailed. "I thought… I thought you were going to die! It was like when we were younger, with the bridge builder! I was standing there, and I couldn't do anything!"

_Still as useless as ever? _Sasuke thought dryly.

"Oh Sasuke, please don't ever scare me like that again! Did you already get your eye drops? I'll do those for you!" she pulled back, though her hands remained on his chest—much to his dismay—as she looked around for the medicine.

"He's already gotten them." Tsunade said from the door.

"…Oh." Sakura said quietly, massaging Sasuke's chest with her hands. "Are you sore from the fight? Or from sleeping so long? Is there anything I can do for you?" she rattled off.

_Yes, you could go die in a fucking hole and get the hell off my tail for once. _

"…Naruto." He croaked out, sitting up slightly until Sakura's hand pushed him back down. It took all of his will power to not cave her nose in with his fist. Weak or not, he was positive he could put enough force behind the punch to do some damage.

"Naruto?" Sakura looked around, as well as all of the other ninja in the room judging from how much of the sound of clothes rustling was heard. "I, um, I don't know…"

"NARUTO!" Tsunade shrieked, storming out of his room and down the hallway like a 50-ton elephant. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO LEAVE!"

Sasuke felt his blood run cold again, desperately cold; he could feel the goose bumps standing up on his skin and his soul going as cold as ice. He wanted to throw up.

Naruto was gone, the sun was gone, and it was dark again. He tried to tell himself that Naruto wouldn't leave Konoha again, but… his heart felt so against him right now, it was painfully shouting in his ear that Naruto wouldn't stay.

Darkness.

Blackness.

Alone.

Sasuke felt another moan crawling up his throat, but he desperately bit it back.

"Sasuke," Sakura stood, talking quietly to him for once in her life, "I'll bring you something to eat later, and they said you need to wear that bandage for two weeks except for when you get the eye drops, and I know how to do the eye drops, so I can stay with you or you can stay with me. I'll be your eyes for the next two weeks, ok?" she asked sweetly. Too sweetly for his taste. Naruto would have yelled at him, or called him a name or something.

He stayed silent. _Naruto knows how to do the eye drops._

"Ok, well, I'll be back in an hour. You have to do your eye drops twice a day, so I'll come in tomorrow morning, alright?"

_I'd rather do them myself and risk poking my eye out by accident._ He spat mentally.

She stood in place for another moment, no doubt staring at him—which was also giving him the creeps—before she stepped quietly out of the door, shutting it behind her with a small click as she went.

His emotions hit him like a tidal wave the second she was gone, and he couldn't hold back anything anymore. He had let in one emotion, the caring for Naruto, and the rest had forced their way back into him. He dammed the pain medications three times over for making him this much of an emotional wreck.

It was overwhelming, the pain. His heart felt like it was being strangled by hands covered in arsenic, and his chest was tight, making it desperately hard to breathe. Rusty nails were being forced through his arteries and acid was being poured into his lungs, not even mentioning the liquid fire pooling in the corners of his eyes.

He drew in a sharp shuddering breath in a second of weakness, and the feelings flooded over his barrier, breaking their way out of the back of his mind and into the world, he couldn't stop them in his weakened, drugged state.

His chest shook with silent sobs, and his hands clenched the sides of the bed so hard that the metal bent, but the tears kept coming. They leaked, unauthorized, from the corners of his eyes, trailing down his face and drying out his tear ducks with the salt that his eyes hadn't tasted in so long.

It was obvious. He and Naruto—to be together—were up against the world. They were alone if they were going to fight for this. He couldn't think of one person who would be behind both of them all the way. Obviously people like Gaara and Tsunade would back Naruto, but… he was alone. If Itachi was alive…

His teeth bit into his lip, blood trickling from his broken skin, but the damned to hell water droplets kept escaping from his eyes and decorating the pillow with small spots.

His eyes were killing him, something about the medicine and the salt in the… **moisture** in his eyes was his guess, a bad reaction between the chemicals, but the nagging voice in the back of his head kept reminding him of how much he had pushed himself to keep using the Sharingan, **far** past the point where he knew there could be some serious damage.

"_And why is that?"_ a small voice asked him smugly, as if trying to rub something in his face.

_Shut up._

"_Was it for Naru—"_

_I said shut up!_

"_You're eyes make you everything that you are. They make up the Uchiha family, and yet you were willing to risk them for the sake of this one boy—"_

_Shut. The. Fuck. __**Up**__!_

"_Even now, the king of ice still has a heart somewhere buried deep within. You still have enough of a heart to feel the emptiness when he is gone."_

_Sasuke opened his eyes, looking into the huge mirror in front of him, stretching all the way up to the sky, endless miles above them._

"_What does he mean to you?"_

_Sasuke's brow furrowed in anger as he stared back into his own eyes._

"_You cry for him," his reflection's lips moved the way a ghost's would, deathly pale, translucent, speaking the horrifying truth, "and yet, you still cannot admit to yourself what you feel."_

_Sasuke snarled, his hands clenching until his nails digging into his palms created small cuts that dripped crimson blood into the blackness._

"_Was he even worth the loss of your eyes? They're so delicate now that even the tiniest beam of light will blind you."_

"_Shut your mouth!" Sasuke yelled, reaching instinctively for his sword before he remembered that he wouldn't have it. _

"_What is he to you?" his voice demanded, mirrors bubbling out of the air and forming a circle around him, trapping him._

_Fifty pairs of his eyes glared back at him as he whirled to snarl back at them all._

"_He's worth giving up your family for?"_

"_How could anyone make you cry, and why him of all people?"_

"_You ignored Sakura for years, and now she's accepted you back despite how you left her twice."_

"_You left Karin and the others, and now she's dead. She was willing to have your children."_

"_That boy's a curse."_

_Sasuke's eyes shot furiously to the new voice, staring straight into the eyes of his mother from the other side of another mirror. He couldn't feel the love he was supposed to for her, the only thing he could feel was the rage her words brought him._

"_He's the demon fox."_

"_He has no business here."_

_Sasuke snarled, unable to even look to his father's voice._

"_The fourth should have saved the village the trouble and killed him once he sealed the Kyuubi in him."_

"_Shut your fucking mouth." Sasuke snarled._

"_I can't believe that they would put him on the same team as you. It's disgraceful and disgusting."_

"_You're the one who's a disgrace!" Sasuke roared, his neck clenching as he glared at the ground. "Itachi could do everything, but I have surpassed him, and that 'curse' is almost better than me!" he could not __**believe **__he'd just said that. Naruto better than him? Only when the world was ending._

"_Why are you even here?"_

_It was his own voice again._

"_You left Konoha."_

"_You wanted it dead."_

"_You never wanted to return."_

"_You tried to kill the boy, multiple times."_

"_Shut up." Sasuke spat._

"_He's not the one—"_

"_He'll loose himself to the fox—"_

"_The fox will kill him—"_

"_He'll destroy everything he tried to protect—"_

"_Shut. Up." Sasuke bit deep into his lip, his fists shaking he was so furious._

"_He almost killed you—"_

"_He tried to destroy your eyes—"_

"_He left you when you chased after him—"_

"_Why did you chase after him?"_

"_Friends don't do things like that for others."_

"_Your brother didn't even do that for your family."_

"_What is he to you?"_

"_Why is he so different?" his reflection demanded harshly, his reflected eyes staring hatefully at him._

_Sasuke wound his fist back, smashing it through the glass in the mirror, the shattered fragments of glass sprinkling around him like ten thousand tiny chimes._

"_**Because I love him**__!" Sasuke roared._

Did everyone get that? In case not, Sasuke fell asleep during thought, and that was his dream.

As another note, please no flaming on couples! There were so many to choose from!

I really wanted the Shikamaru/Kiba couple because they're my second favorite pairing after Sasuke/Naruto (don't laugh),

but there were too many to choose from, and I didn't want to leave Hinata hanging!


	19. Don't Leave

I don't own anything but my ideas.

WARNING: LEMON! DON'T READ IF YOU WILL BE SCARRED FOR LIFE!

Don't Leave

"Are you sure you'll be ok Neji?"

Neji nodded. "Yes. I'll be out of here by tomorrow, they just want to watch the wound for another few hours to make sure the chakra is completely gone."

During the fight, while Sakura and Neji had been protecting Sasuke's physical body while he went gallivanting like an idiot around in Naruto's and the Kyuubi's mind, the Kyuubi had landed a nasty blow to Neji's hip. It was small, about an inch deep and only four inches long, but the Kyuubi's chakra slowly ate away at flesh with the heat, making any hit from it dangerous. The chakra had been sealed and then removed, and the wound was healing moderately quickly, but the hospitals still wanted to monitor it for a little while, and Neji had a sneaking suspicion it was so they could get a better idea about how to seal the Kyuubi's chakra if there was a next time.

"Well, alright." Tenten sent him a smile. "Then we'll be here tomorrow to pick you up!"

"YOSH!" Lee bellowed, throwing his fist in the air. "USE THE WONDERS OF YOUTH AND CONTINUE TO GET BETTER OUR STRONG NEJI! NOTHING WILL BE ABLE TO HOLD YOU DOWN!"

"Lee, be quiet!" Tenten smacked him gently. "This is a hospital, there are patients trying to sleep!"

"Of course Tenten, I am sorry. It was stupid of me to—"

"…Lee?" Tenten asked as Lee suddenly looked down to his feet, moving them both slowly.

Lee popped back up a second later, a smile on his face. "It is nothing. Do not worry."

"We'll see you tomorrow Neji, get a lot of rest so they don't try and keep you here longer." Tenten waved before she shut the door behind her. Neji's brow furrowed as he caught a glimpse of Lee winking at him before the door closed.

He waited until they were far enough away before leaning slightly over the bed to see what Lee had been looking at on the floor. He bent down slowly, being careful not to stretch the wound and reopen it, and ran his finger along the floor.

_Sand._ Neji's heart skipped a beat and he brushed the sand off his finger, straightening up in the bed before looking around. There was nothing, and there wasn't enough sand on the floor for Gaara to be in the room. So that meant Gaara was already in his full body—

"Do you normally make others call your relationships because you nearly got yourself killed by a demon?"

Neji jumped and whirled to the voice behind him. Gaara was leaning up against the wall beside his bed, the gourd on his back and slowly calling the sand back into it. The sand whirled into a cork in Gaara's hand and he corked the gourd as soon as the floor was bare again.

"I didn't, I've been sitting here listening to hundreds of doctors and Lee telling me that my youth wont let me die. Which I wouldn't have anyway."

"Naruto contacted me in a panic, acting like the Kyuubi's chakra was going to eat you alive and I should come see you when I could so I didn't miss seeing you once more before you died."

"It's a **scratch**." Neji ground out, lifting the hospital gown to show Gaara where the scar would be. The skin was a little darker than normal due to the intensely concentrated heat, and there would be a scar, but it didn't look as if he had been attacked with a crazed fox wielding a buzz saw. People were acting as if they were expecting him to need to get his lower body amputated soon because of the attack or something. He blushed and stuffed his shirt back down as he realized that Gaara wasn't only looking at the scar when he had lifted his shirt up.

"The Kyuubi broke free?" Gaara asked, moving to the end of the bed. He seemed to be thinking to himself, like there was a second meaning to his words.

Neji nodded, kind of miffed that this was what the visit was going to be about. Politics. "Sasuke was able to wake Naruto up again. Somehow he and the Kyuubi reversed roles, and Naruto was locked in the cage with the Kyuubi on the outside."

Gaara's face was blank, his stance showing no emotion. His eyes however, showed a tiny glimmer of something that Neji couldn't place… the glimmer would have been invisible to anyone without the Byakugan, so he was lucky to have noticed it at all.

And then Neji placed the glimmer.

**Lust**.

_Shit!_ Neji's mind spun as he tried to find the best words to tell Gaara that in the middle of the hospital might not have been the best time for that, but Gaara had other ideas and knew enough to beat him to anything before Neji could get a single word out of his mouth.

Neji jumped as more sand that he hadn't noticed snaked out from under the bed and began to wrap around one of Neji's legs.

"Gaara, now isn't—" Neji was cut of by an arm of sand sliding under his shirt and stroking roughly over his chest, tweaking his body in ways that made him shiver like nothing else.

"Gaara—" Neji tried again, only to be cut off this time by a few grains of sand rolling down his spine. He arched his back into the touch, but not before the sand molded into a thick pillow behind him, bracing him so he couldn't lean back and reopen the wound on his hip.

"Gaara…" Neji wasn't even trying to stop the Kazekage anymore, he was just moaning his name now like it was air to him.

The sand undid the tie on the back of his hospital shirt and the fabric slid away, letting the sand work like fingers over Neji's skin, teasing and stroking his taught skin. It rippled over his skin in waves, running up and down his arms and tracing over his shoulders, the pillow of sand behind him swelling in up and down motions to knead Neji's back like a dozen hands. Neji's breathing was in unison with the sand moving over his chest, and he gripped the bed sheets in an effort to stay quiet enough so no one would come to see if everything was all right.

Neji groaned as the sand lifted him gently off the bed and slid his boxers off his legs, revealing his body to the open air, only covered by the thin hospital blanket. The sand worked gently over his left hip, gingerly massaging the tender skin around his gash on his right and teasing the tender skin under his thighs, making Neji unconsciously bend his knees and lift them off the bed, where the sand promptly swirled to and propped them up.

Neji's head rolled back against the sand and he clenched the covers tighter as the sand poked at his inner thighs, and then all at once wrapped around his manhood.

Neji's pearl grey eyes rolled back into his head as a moan that he couldn't feel because he was so high above the world rolled off his tongue, his body twitched with the feeling of the sand rippling and moving over him like water, a hand and a tongue all at the same time.

He bit his tongue as the sand worked faster against his skin, thrashing against the bed as the sand pinned him down more with the weight and the strength, and all at once, he fell back to earth, rocketing to the ground like a bullet, his muscles clenching up around him as he tried to close his throat to keep as quiet as possible, and then he hit.

Neji lay back as the sand swirled away behind him, resting him gently against his pillow. He was breathing like a woman in labor, and his muscles were so spent and his mind so numb he was amazed that he was even still awake. His eyes started to drop closed as he watched Gaara standing like a statue with no emotion at the foot of his bed, but now there was another glint along with the lust in his eyes… oh, of course.

"You're evil…" _he did that to… make me more… tired…_

Gaara waited a moment by the foot of the bed before stepping over by Neji's side. The sand brushed the long hair out of the boy's face as he slept, and Gaara stared down at him with unblinking eyes, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest.

The Kazekage's hand reached out slowly, hesitating a moment before his own fingers brushed across Neji's cheek, and then his body and the gourd and his clothes whirled into sand and drifted out from under the door, dispersing enough so as not to be noticed, his chakra completely masked.

XXX

Naruto sat up sharply in his hospital bed, his eyes flicking to the door at the sudden spike in chakra. It would have been nearly undetectable to anyone else, but with the Kyuubi's hyper senses, it was easy to detect the sudden energy in the air. He relaxed as only sand slid under the door like a silent wind and swirled up into a small tornado, parting to reveal Gaara of the Desert.

"We need to talk." Gaara said curtly.

"Nice to see you too." Naruto rolled his eyes, lying back down in bed.

"You said the Kyuubi got out."

Naruto stiffened. "'Cause of that damn thunderstorm, but it wasn't for a long time."

"How long?" the question wasn't an option to answer, it was a demand, that much was clear only by Gaara's death-like tone of voice.

"Why?" Naruto asked warily.

"…It's back."

Naruto blinked. "What's back?"

"…**It**." Gaara said through gritted teeth. "Remember when I said that irony seems to hate us jinchuuriki the most?"

"Me." Naruto corrected. "Not us—"

"I **mean** us." Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Gaara could see the click behind Naruto's eyes as he finally got it, and then the wheels in his brain start to turn as he put two and two together, his eyes closing as he apparently tried to stay calm, taking deliberate deep breaths.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, his smile now dangerously strained. "Excuse me for a moment." He said slowly, his eyes going dazed as he went into his mind. "**YOU SET THE SHUKAKU FREE? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? GAARA'S FINALLY BEEN SET LOOSE FROM YOU DAMN DEMONS AND YOUR INTERFERENCES IN OUR LIVES AND YOU GO AND FORCE THE THING BACK INTO HIM!**" Naruto pounded his fist against the wall, his anger so dominating that everything he did in his mind leaked into his body.

"**HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? HOW COULD YOU MAKE HIM SUFFER MORE THAN HE ALREADY HAS? DO YOU KNOW HOW CONTROLING AND FREAKISHLY SADISTIC THE SHUKAKU IS?** Huh? **WELL WHO CARES HOW MUCH STRONGER THE DEMON WILL MAKE HIM? GAARA WAS STRONG ENOUGH ON HIS OWN! **What about Neji?"

Gaara looked up in confusion, why was Neji a part of this conversation?

"Like me? What the hell is that supposed to—**what do you mean he can do the same thing**? Huh? **I'm not asking him that**! **Well then you can fuck off and die**!" Naruto's eyes cleared again, and he blinked a few times before looking at Gaara, his face apologetic. "The Kyuubi would like a conference with the Shukaku." He said slowly.

"What did you mean 'like you'?" Gaara asked, barricading the room with more sand.

"It said…" Naruto looked down at himself, "well, he wants to check with the Shukaku first before I say anything, but he said the Shukaku might be able to… make you… pregnant, like me."

"What?" Gaara said slowly.

"Um…" Naruto slid into his mind again for a moment before coming back to the real world and grabbing Gaara's hands with his own, creating a circle between them. "Now we have to both go into our minds, but he said not to listen in when they're talking."

"How reassuring." Gaara said flatly, zoning out as people began pounding on the door from outside, trying to get in.

"Is the door—?"

"Barricaded enough, they wont be able to get in until I take the sand down."

Naruto nodded again before his and Gaara's eyes clouded over, and they both landed inside themselves.

Their minds had connected to create an alternate universe between them, with the Shukaku and Kyuubi's cages at opposite ends of the world. The boiling water from Naruto's mind surrounded both cages and all the space between them, with only a narrow strip of a sand bar connecting the two, where Gaara and Naruto were presently standing.

"_**Shoo runt, the parents need to do a little talking."**_ The Kyuubi chuckled, and the water to the side of the sand bar parted, revealing another sand pathway to a sand bar further out. Naruto looked nervously to the Kyuubi's cage before starting down the pathway.

"They're separated by their cages, don't worry." Gaara said. "There's no way they could break out or through, and the sand and water keeps their powers separate."

Naruto nodded, looking back quickly as the sea behind them close again, and they were trapped on the tiny island.

"_**What now fox?"**_

"_**You should be thanking me,"**_ the Kyuubi chuckled, _**"I've figured out everything in the plan."**_

"_**And what does that have to do with seeing me?"**_

"_**Well, before I tell you, I need your word that you will do as I say, or neither of us will get out."**_

"_**What have I got to loose?" **_the Shukaku sighed, clearly annoyed, like he had been sleeping before the Kyuubi had merged their minds together temporarily.

"_**Is that a yes?"**_

"_**Might as well be, now what is your plan?"**_

The Kyuubi smirked. _**"Now that we're seeing eye to eye…"**_

"_**Alright kit, here's what we have decided."**_ The Kyuubi said as a giant wave came out of nowhere and tossed Gaara and Naruto back onto the sand bar between the two cages like sacks of potatoes.

"OW!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his head and shaking his fist at the Kyuubi's cage. "WHAT THE HELL FURBALL?"

"_**I have agreed to the Kyuubi's suggestion."**_ The Shukaku said from its cage, completely ignoring Naruto like everyone else. _**"Apparently he isn't too appreciative of how down Naruto has been these days because he's worried that you wont be able to be with the Hyuuga brat because of his uncle wanting him to have children."**_ The Shukaku said to Gaara.

"_**If you think you have a headache when I get mad, then I wont even bother trying to explain the migraine I get when you're upset, kit."**_ The Kyuubi said.

"I don't believe you." Gaara snarled. "Your existence in me has been nothing but hell, you would never all of a sudden—"

"_**I owe the Kyuubi a favor for setting me free from those damn Akatsuki, and he is tired of Naruto moping all of the time, which apparently he did enough of as of late because of his imprisonment in the Uchiha's house. Hmm… that's quite an idea, maybe I should get you imprisoned in the Hyuuga's house."**_ The Shukaku laughed suggestively. _**"But in any event, I wouldn't spend anymore time with the Hyuuga until you are ready to be a parent, and if you don't tell him right off the bat like the blonde idiot refused to do—"**_

"HEY!" Naruto barked.

"—_**then I will do it myself. I refuse to subject myself to any of your whining because you're too afraid to tell the Hyuuga that you're now not carrying only me. Now get out."**_ It ordered, and the water and sand swirled up around the two humans, swallowing them whole.

Naruto flopped down on his bed as the people outside their door continued to bang on it, now yelling for others to try and get in through the window, worried that something was wrong because of all of Naruto's yelling.

"Does this freak you out a little bit?" Naruto asked slowly, watching Gaara move to the window and look out over the village. He couldn't help but notice that Gaara was looking in the direction of the Hyuuga compound.

"…Not really, I've seen too many strange things in my life to be freaked out by anything anymore." Gaara looked pointedly at Naruto's protruding stomach, and Naruto blushed and flipped over on his front in an effort to hide it as much as possible.

"…Neji… wow… I figured it out but… WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Naruto bellowed, shooting up in the bed.

"Because you would have reacted like you did just now." Gaara said easily. "Or you would have called him the second you got away from me to say that I was dying and that he should go see me." Gaara sent his best friend a death glare, causing Naruto to blush in return.

Later

Naruto crept down the black hallway, his walk illuminated only by a thin stripe of light coming from patients' doors that were open an inch. He flattened himself against the wall as he walked, keeping a close eye on the doors in the hallway as well as both ends of the hallway.

His hand came to rest on the door he wanted before he twisted it slowly, slipping into the room like a shadow, where he was immediately met with an iron fist to his cheek.

"The hell?" he hissed to Sasuke, cradling his bruised cheek. Sasuke's hands were fisted and Naruto was sure that if the bandage he had to wear didn't cover his eyes, his glare would have burned a hole through Naruto's head.

Sasuke's hands shot out and grabbed Naruto's shirt, rattling him a little bit like a rag doll before he growled in a whisper so as the hospital staff wouldn't hear them, "If you **ever** leave like you did earlier, I swear I will cripple you so bad even the Kyuubi wont be able to heal you, and you wont ever **be able** to leave again."

"Roger." Naruto squeaked before Sasuke yanked him forward into a kiss.

"I mean it." Sasuke growled, gripping the back of Naruto's neck harshly as they devoured each other's lips. Naruto nodded around Sasuke's tongue, attacking the raven with his own.

"And you have to tell Sakura and everyone else soon." Sasuke whispered huskily, pressing Naruto back into the door so the bump in Naruto's stomach was prominent between them. "It'll be obvious in another month or so."

Naruto stiffened before trying to struggle away, but Sasuke slammed him back into the door as quietly as humanly possible.

"Don't leave." He reminded Naruto with a smirk before planting a sharp bite on Naruto's neck, making the blond yelp before he held a hand over his mouth.

I know! This is really short! Sorry, but just consider it a teaser for what's to come!

And for all you GaaraxNeji fans like me ;) there was something a little more in depth for yoooouuuuu!

Wow, could their problems really be over?

We'll just have to wait and seeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(That means no, people, so I hope you're looking forward to more of the story!)

RR&R

(Read, Rate & Review)


	20. Nightmare

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Nightmare

"_You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"_

_The son of a bitch knew, he was just asking for his own amusement. Sasuke bit deeper into his lip, concentrating on the stinging throb and the salt he could taste in his blood as he kept slashing the sword through the dummy._

"_You know Orochimaru wants you to stop using those things and start practicing on real people. We're happy to kidnap an ANBU member or two from a nearby village that you can attack."_

_Sasuke tried not to listen, but Kabuto's voice was like poison. It sank deep into Sasuke's skin like venom and stayed there, eating away at him slowly and corroding him more than this goddamn place was, and that was a pretty fucking hard thing to do. He drew back his arm again, switching his blade momentarily to his other hand as he drove his fist through the dummy's skull, wincing as he felt and heard his hand crack at the impact._

_Kabuto sighed and Sasuke heard the small click as Kabuto pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Come over here and I'll heal that."_

_Sasuke ignored him, switching his sword back to his right hand even though his middle and ring finger were screaming in protest against the use. He charged the next dummy, ripping through its chest open with one swing before turning for the next._

"_You don't have to take out your anger like this Sasuke. Wouldn't it be easier if you didn't have the anger at all?"_

_Sasuke bit deeper into his lip, his tongue feeling where his tooth had gone through the skin as he slashed at the next dummy. He knew what was coming, and he wanted to hear it in that poisoning voice about as much as he wanted his arms torn off and his balls smashed in._

_Sasuke lowered his arm after he had annihilated the last dummy and stood breathing for a moment, staring blankly down at the ground. His shirt still lay where he had discarded it on the ground after soaking it with sweat, and he would have just stripped himself if he hadn't known that Karin or Orochimaru would walk in. That was the __**last**__ thing he needed, to be ogled at by either of them._

"_Sasuke."_

_He flinched mentally at the hands on his shoulders, cringing away from them as best as he could in his thoughts, but he refused to let it show in his movements. He would die before he showed Kabuto a weakness like that. It was no secret that he hated physical contact of all kinds, but he would die before telling them that touch felt over a thousand times worse after he'd been thinking about… __**him**__._

"_You don't need this anger. At least, not because of him. There is nothing wrong with anger, but yours is for the wrong reasons."_

_Sasuke forced his body to stay relaxed. He would __**not**__ waver, in any way._

"_Memories of him will only hurt you. Let them go and move forward, the next time you meet, Orochimaru wants you to kill him. You will not be able to do that if you keep holding onto those memories of him."_

_The silence was painful, but it was always better than having to listen to Kabuto._

"_Don't think about him, don't see him anywhere you go." Kabuto's hands moved to cover Sasuke's eyes, blinding him from the world. They all wanted him blind. They all wanted him to be a mindless puppet for Orochimaru to use. He refused to become that._

"_If you see him, the only thing you will see with that is pain. Let go of him so you can follow your goals."_

_He meant 'let go of yourself and become a nothing to be used by Orochimaru.' Letting go of those memories… __**would**__ make him loose his self. Painful or not… they were all he had of what had possibly been a happy part of his life after Itachi had murdered their family. He wasn't about to forget them, he didn't know why he held onto them so desperately, even though a part of him did want to forget, but there was no way in hell he would forget._

_Sasuke slashed back, missing Kabuto by inches as the other ninja leapt back, landing on the edge of the training grounds._

_Sasuke didn't move for several minutes, breathing deeply and staring at the ground where the torn pieces of the dummy lay, his arm still out where Kabuto had been behind him._

"_Don't touch me." he ordered in something akin to a whisper, sheathing his sword and moving to retrieve his shirt._

"_You don't need to torture yourself like this." Another click as Kabuto pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Let go of him and be only with Orochimaru. Forget Naruto." _

_This time, Sasuke __**did**__ flinch. His name. How long had it been since he'd heard… or even __**thought**__ his name? It was painful, but… it was also one of those things his mind desperately clung to, no matter how many times he told himself to just disregard it._

"_Forget the jinchuuriki and be one with Orochimaru. Then you will truly be the strongest you can be."_

Sasuke jolted awake, breathing harshly and staring up at the black ceiling. He flipped the covers back violently and yanked his sweat-soaked shirt over his head in disgust, hurling it across the room where it hit the wall with a not-nearly-satisfying-enough thunk before sliding to the ground.

Sasuke flung his feet over the side of the bed and stormed into the bathroom, sticking his head under the faucet as he turned it full blast on cold. It made breathing a little difficult from under that umbrella of water, but he would tear his skin off his face with a rusty kunai if it meant getting rid of the feeling of Kabuto's hands on him again. That dream had been so goddamn vivid, it almost made him want to hurl.

He didn't know how long he stood there, but when he finally pulled out from under the sheet of water, he was no longer in any way as sweaty as if he had really been back in Orochimaru's training grounds, especially with the water raining off his hair and down his back. He toweled of his hair viciously before moving back to the bed. He kept the towel draped over his head and shoulders as he stood there and watched Naruto for the next few minutes; any weight, anything on his shoulders was better than the déjà vu of Kabuto's cold hands against his skin.

"_You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"_

Sasuke moved to lie down next to Naruto, his hand across the sleeping boy's arm. He stared into Naruto's calm face, the jinchuuriki unaffected by anything wrong in the world at that second. How was it that with everything Naruto had hanging over his head, he could still look so at peace?

"_Memories of him will only hurt you. Let them go and move forward, the next time you meet, Orochimaru wants you to kill him. You will not be able to do that if you keep holding onto those memories of him."_

Sasuke's hand moved up to brush with feather touches across Naruto's cheek, tracing the thick scars with his finger tips and he was partly aware of one of his legs moving to tangle with Naruto's.

"_Don't think about him, don't see him anywhere you go."_

Sasuke lifted his hand further to gently wrap one of Naruto's golden locks around his forefinger, twisting it and rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger carefully so as not to wake the blonde, watching the way it caught the earliest glimmer of the sunlight that had gotten through a tiny part in the black curtains. He was technically supposed to still have that stupid bandage over his eyes, and Naruto would have his head if he saw him without it, but he'd already been doing the medicine for a week and a half out of two weeks—actually, he only had two more days of the medicine to go—and he could see fine aside from a slight blurriness in his peripheral vision. Besides the fact that the color of Naruto's hair matched the sunlight so perfectly, it was hard to want to look away.

"_If you see him, the only thing you will see with that is pain. Let go of him so you can follow your goals."_

Sasuke pushed himself closer until he could feel Naruto's stomach between them, a very obvious, large, five-month pregnant stomach. Because Naruto was so fit, and his male body was more built than a female, his baby bump would always be too small, so Naruto only looked three months pregnant. He would have smirked, remembering when he'd forced Naruto to tell everyone a month ago, but he was still in cold shock from the dream.

_Flashback_

_Everyone was seated in the Uchiha living room—much to Sasuke's discontent—but it was worth it for what they were about to say. _

_Hinata was sitting a little close to Kiba, and Sasuke noticed, though it was obvious they didn't really want any to. Ino and Sai had already been together for a few months, but he wished they would sit a little __**less**__ close to each other, but unfortunately Ino had always been a close contact person. Tenten was sitting close to Neji, but Sasuke could easily see that it was only one-sided between them, he inwardly wondered if the Hyuuga prodigy would ever find someone that would fit his uncle's criteria and his own. And Shikamaru was… Shikamaru, and he looked fine sitting by himself. Lee kept edging closer to Sakura, but her eyes were glued to Sasuke alone. That made him shiver._

_And where the hell was the Dobe?_

"_Be right back." Sasuke snapped, standing up from his seat and walking through the living room, the sitting room, the dining room, and into the main room where he glared up to the third floor inside balcony. It was a little hard to glare with the black bandage over his eyes to block out anything that had anything even remotely related to the word 'light', which sucked, because Sasuke really liked the color of Naruto's hair._

"_OI! DOBE! GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND GET DOWN HERE!"_

_Silence. _

_Sasuke felt his eye twitch before he jumped up to the third balcony, using his chakra to pinpoint the balcony and landing lightly on the railing, pushing the door open to his room from where he was._

_Sasuke could sense Naruto was crouched in the middle of his room, a small pouch open in front of him, running his thumb over the leaf of a Konoha hitai-ate. I tiny 'tink' every time Naruto ran his nail over the middle of the hitai-ate told Sasuke that the metal had a scratch through it. Sasuke flinched as he recognized the hitai-ate he bet Naruto that he couldn't touch, and Naruto had proven him wrong that day at the Valley of the End with his strength and left the scratch through the middle._

"_You kept that?" he stepped off the railing and walked over to behind Naruto, Naruto nodded slowly._

"_Come on, everyone's waiting." Sasuke walked back to the door._

"_I don't know if I can." _

_Sasuke looked back in confusion, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see anything with that damn thing over his eyes._

"_Well __**you**__ don't exactly have to tell everyone that the demon in you created you a womb and your best friend impregnated your __**male**__ body!" Naruto shot back in a very watery voice._

_Best friend. "Lets go Dobe. Idiot." He said best friend. _

_Is that what they were?_

_Naruto took a deep breath and stood up, vanishing on the spot and rematerializing behind Sasuke, perched on the railing. _

It's ok._ Naruto thought, plastering a smile on his face. _He still doesn't feel that way about me, and probably never will. I was there, he was horny, the fox was horny, and it worked out that way for him… but it doesn't matter. He's back now, and we're still best friends, even if he doesn't want anything more than that._ Naruto had had incredible amounts of practice getting this smile to look real when he was young, and it was easy to recall that talent, if that's what you wanted to call it._

"_Usuratonkachi." Sasuke stuck his nose in the air, jumping over the balcony. _Best friend. Is that all he wants to be?

Best friend._ Naruto widened his smile as he walked into the views of his other friends. _It's ok, we'll still be best friends, even if he doesn't want to go further than that.

"_Um… I have something to say…" Naruto began slowly, "and I hope you wont freak out and run away screaming."_

"_I never scream, Naruto." Kiba smirked, and Naruto managed to crack a smile in return._

"_Um, ok…" Naruto moved over to a chair and sat down before his knees gave out beneath him because he was shaking so much. "You know how the Kyuubi can… __**do**__ different things? From a human?"_

_Sasuke refrained from smacking his palm over his eyes, knowing it would only damage them more. This was painful to __**listen to**__; thank god he didn't have to watch._

"_It was, uh, back when Sasuke had first caught up to me, after I had left the village." Naruto was practically wringing his hands as he spoke. How could this idiot be an ANBU?_

"_And the, uh, Kyuubi wanted to, uh—"_

"_Just spit it out." Sasuke snapped._

"_Knock me up." Naruto squeaked, shutting his eyes tightly and clenching his shoulders, waiting for the explosion._

"_Sorry," Kiba put his pinky in his ear, pretending to clean it, "there must have been some water in my ear from when I went swimming this morning. __**What**__?"_

"_**YOU'RE WHAT?**__" Sakura shrieked, shooting out of her seat like a lightning bolt. Naruto cringed away._

"_**WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'KNOCKED YOU UP'? WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS EVEN MEAN? YOU'RE CARRYING THE KYUUBI'S WHAT? LIKE, FOX KITS? YOU'RE A GUY! YOU'VE GOT TO BE CRAZY! THE KYUUBI IS ONLY A MIND IN YOU, YOU IDIOT! IT CAN'T GET YOU PREGNANT! ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A **__**GUY**__**!**__"_

"_Its not the Kyuubi's." Naruto squeaked, cringing further away._

"_Excuse me?" Sakura blinked. "WELL THEN WHO THE HELL'S IS IT? YOU WERENT WITH ANYONE BUT…" Sakura blinked, and Sasuke could feel her shaking her head in her mind, telling herself 'no way in __**hell**__' before she looked back up at Naruto. "SO THEN WHAT? YOU STOPPED AT SOME VILLAGE ALONG THE WAY AND DECIDED TO ACT ALL BUDDY-BUDDY WITH SOME RANDOM STRANGER? NARUTO WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST STAYED HERE IN KONOHA—"_

"_It's mine." _

_Sakura blinked again as everyone turned slowly to stare at Sasuke as they recovered from the shock of what Naruto had told them, only to get this new thing smashed into their face like a hot iron._

"…_What's yours Sasuke?" Sakura asked slowly, her voice strained._

"_The baby." Sasuke said flatly. "The Kyuubi created a chakra womb for Naruto and I knocked him up, not the fox." He felt a little like an idiot, standing here with this bandage over his eyes, but what the hell. Naruto would have a cow if he took it off, so deal._

"_I don't understand Sasuke…" Sakura said after a second. Sasuke could sense her world crashing behind her eyes, and it pissed him off a.) Because she __**did**__ know what he meant, she just refused to accept it, b.) She was clearly about to attack Naruto for this and c.) Why the hell was it so hard for people to accept him and Naruto together—_

_Best friend. _

_Naruto had only called them best friends._

…_Was that all he was to Naruto? A best friend? Someone that just stayed with you and took your shit on their shoulders? No, he was not that to Naruto. He had saved the Dobe's life hundreds of times now, and Naruto had done the same for him. He had spent __**months**__ on the run with him from two different groups, both against each other and after Naruto. He had put up with Gaara and brought Naruto __**back to Konoha**__ just so the prick could be happy! They were not __**just friends**__! Naruto was carrying his fucking __**kid**__ for Christ Fucking Almighty's sake! _

"_Does the council know?"_

_Sasuke's head snapped to Neji, and he could sense Naruto's sudden horror—far beyond how scared he had been to tell Sakura—at the mention of the council._

"_No, I don't think granny has, and we haven't…" Naruto whispered weakly, his hands drifting closer to his stomach, but not touching it. The fear was obvious in his voice, and then his eyes suddenly glazed over as if he were dead and he clutched the sides of his head in pain, curling in on himself and grunting with the force of what Sasuke was sure was a hell of a Kyuubi tan…trum… wasn't the Kyuubi sealed away? And then it dawned on him: Naruto was lying so that Tsunade would think everything was all right._

_Everyone moved to Naruto, but Sasuke was there in a flash, his stance clearly protective, so they kept their distance. Sakura could still remember all too clearly the feeling of those razor-sharp, white-hot claws slicing through her arm. It felt like it was still on fire for three days afterwards._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed the sides of Naruto's face and forced him to look up, tearing the bandage off his head as he did. Sakura's shriek of his name at taking off the bandage went in one ear and out the other as he glared into Naruto's glazed eyes._

"_Nothing is going to happen to the baby." Sasuke hissed, leaning in close. "I already told you, you fucking fox, I wont let the council go near either of them, so stop fucking torturing him." _

_Everyone seemed to jump slightly at the mention of Sasuke talking directly to the Kyuubi, but they kept quiet for the time being._

"_**You better not, human."**__ Sasuke winced at the sudden pounding voice echoing around his head as the Kyuubi threatened him through Naruto's eyes. __**"Otherwise I might have to step out again and… take care of things myself."**_

_End Flashback_

Sasuke bit harshly into his lip, stopping as he was again hit by the déjà vu of the dream. He counted his slowed breathing, 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. and tried to tell himself that it was just a dream. It had been pretty obvious for Sakura to get that Myobu had been Naruto after that, just created so she would stay away from Sasuke, though she didn't want to seem to except it.

"_Memories of him will only hurt you. Let them go and move forward. The next time you meet, Orochimaru wants you to kill him, you will not be able to do that if you keep holding onto those memories of him."_

_Shut up Uchiha._ Sasuke spat at himself. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2. _It was his goddamn logic that got him eaten from the inside out by Orochimaru._

"_Don't think about him, don't see him anywhere you go. If you see him, the only thing you will see with that is pain. Let go of him so you can follow your goals. Forget the jinchuuriki and be one with Orochimaru. Then you will truly be the strongest you can be."_

_Shut. Up._ Sasuke gritted his teeth until they felt like they would shatter under the pressure. 1 2 1 2 1 2.

"_You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"_

12121212121212.

"_Let go of him."_

Sasuke flung himself away from Naruto and stormed back into the bathroom, shaking his head as he did to try and get the feeling of Kabuto's hands over his eyes off at all costs. He stepped through the smaller bathroom with the shower in it and into the giant bathroom with the full sized bath in it between his room and Itachi's—or… what had been Itachi's room.

The pool's water was like ice, having not been heated for a bath beforehand, but that's exactly what he wanted. His picked up the bucket by the pool and thrust it under the water with a loud splash, throwing the frozen water over his head, and filling it again as he started to panic when he could still feel Kabuto's hands on him.

After another three buckets full of the liquid dry ice doing absolutely nothing to help him, he threw the bucket aside in disgust and pitched himself into the water.

The ice water wrapped and clawed at his skin, making him shiver even though he couldn't feel it. It swallowed him whole like a monster, rushing over his head around him and cutting off all light, sound and air in the dark room, and finally becoming still as he settled at the bottom of the icy water, leaning his head back against the rock hard side of the pool.

_Why the hell can't I get past that? Nothing happened, so why am I so stuck on that? _Sasuke opened his eyes, staring out through the black water. He couldn't see anything beyond the blackness. Maybe the water was a bad idea… the smothering feeling, the weight of the water, the darkness; it was like one of his nightmares again.

Sasuke closed his eyes again, seeping into the blackness.

A hand wrapped around his arm and yanked him harshly upward, snapping his head back as he was heaved out of the water with the strength of a freight train and dropped onto the hard ground at the side of the pool.

"Jesus hell Sasuke! How fucking long were you going to stay under?"

Sasuke peeled his eyes open slowly, looking up at Naruto's half-pissed off and half-terrified face above him, like he was trying to decide whether to punch or kiss Sasuke.

_How long? I was only under for a few seconds… did I fall asleep?_ He coughed, suddenly realizing that there was water in his lungs that wasn't supposed to be there. _I did. I fell asleep under the motherfucking ice water. And Naruto was probably watching the whole time. Shit, he's going to think I was trying to kill myself._

"Fucking hell!" Naruto threw his hands over his eyes, sitting back and bringing his legs up to his chest as he rested his elbows on his knees.

They sat in silence for a while longer, Naruto still trying to decide whether to attack or jump Sasuke, Sasuke staring up at the ceiling, breathing slowly as he tried to work out what had even happened there.

"…Did you have a nightmare?" Naruto ground out after a while, his face still hidden behind his hands.

"…Yeah."

"And exactly **how **many times have I told you to wake me when you do?" Naruto was talking through his teeth; it was obvious by the slight growl in his voice.

"…I don't know what happened there."

"You mean aside from your near suicide in water only suited for fucking penguins?" Naruto spat.

Sasuke stayed silent. It was better to just let Naruto rant when he was like this, besides, he must have really scared the blonde.

"What was it about?" Naruto asked slowly, his voice calmer now, though he hadn't moved his hands from his face.

"…Things I didn't want to have to relive."

Naruto sighed and pushed himself off the floor. "Well, you always comfort me when I have things like this—"

"You have paranoiac episodes Dobe, not nightmares—"

"—so now it's my turn to comfort you." Naruto knelt down by the bath.

"I don't need comforting." Sasuke snarled, his eyes snapping to Naruto, looking at the first thing besides the ceiling since he'd been pulled from the water.

"Sure you don't, and I have red hair with lavender polka dots." Naruto returned easily. He stared at his hand for a moment before his entire arm burst into flame, and he stuck it into the water with a loud hiss, but instead of the fire going out, Naruto kept it lit under the water, and after a moment the water around his arm started to steam.

Sasuke's head tipped slowly back to the ceiling, the immense chill over taking his body starting to feel like Kabuto's presence again and started counting his breathing. 1. 2. 1. 2. In. Out. In. Out.

Small thumps landed by Sasuke's head, and he tilted it back to find a pile of Naruto's clothes lying on the floor. He looked over to the bath, watching as Naruto slid into the hot water, standing there for a moment before ducking below the surface and splashing up a second later, shaking the water from his eyes.

He swam through the deep water over to the edge and rested his arms on the side. "Come on Sasuke, the water isn't arctic temperatures anymore."

Sasuke didn't move. Inoutinoutinoutinoutinout. It was getting worse, he could sense Kabuto behind him, even though he was lying on the ground, and he could **feel** the doctor's hands on his shoulders. The cold and vulnerability didn't help either, lying on the bathroom floor unable to move because his brain was dead, with no shirt, and ice water dripping off of him and creating a puddle of ice water under him.

Naruto sighed from the bath and heaved himself out of the deep water and padded over to where Sasuke was, water dripping from his body showering Sasuke. It felt good, the warmth. A thousand times better than the cold water, which had done nothing to help him to boot.

Naruto crouched down and slid his hands under Sasuke's shoulders and knees, lifting him gently off the ground. He carefully maneuvered himself so he was sitting on the edge of the bath without jostling Sasuke too much and slipped off into the water.

Sasuke let his head lay limply against Naruto's shoulder, part of him wondering why he hadn't yelled or protested more, part of him wondering why he hadn't physically gotten himself out of Naruto's hold, part of him still trying to get his brain to work because of the aftershock from the dream, and the rest of him (far more than half) threatening that if he even tried to move away from Naruto it would pinch off blood vessels in his manhood until it turned black and fell off.

Sasuke obliged the last part's wishes and didn't move, not that he had really wanted to in the first place.

"Must have been a hell of a dream." Naruto shifted him in his arms, moving over to the shallower area so they could sit. "You haven't hit me yet."

"…It was just a little too real." Sasuke said, though it came out as more of a strangled whispered. He couldn't feel his body, he felt like a rag doll in Naruto's arms. Naruto sat down, sitting Sasuke across his lap and moving his arms to hug the raven tightly. And why the hell was he talking about his dream?

He was vaguely aware of Naruto peeling off the rest of his clothes and throwing the soaked articles out of the water, what Sasuke should have done in the beginning.

"Better?" Naruto asked.

Silence.

It **wasn't** better; he could still feel the cold over his eyes and on his shoulders where Kabuto's slimy hands had touched his skin. Naruto looked around for a second before grabbing a washcloth and standing up to move back into the middle of the bath, where it was up to their chests.

"Going under." Naruto said before ducking under, pulling Sasuke with him.

The water rushed in around Sasuke, sucking at him and smothering him, but this time it wasn't cold like claws, it felt like warm hands, comforting and nice. Easy to relax in.

Sasuke let out an easy breath, opening his eyes and watching as Naruto moved away from him to run the cloth up and down his arms, caressing his chest and drawing the gentle material over his back. Naruto pulled them back up to breathe for a second before going back under and continuing to wash the dream away from Sasuke, scrubbing it out of his skin one gentle stroke at a time. Sasuke rolled into the touch and moaned underwater as Naruto went across his eyes, letting the last memory of Kabuto skitter away with the bubbles from his moan as they zigzagged for the surface of the water like little butterflies.

Naruto let the cloth go in the water and pulled Sasuke into him, wrapping his arms tightly around the raven-haired boy. Sasuke floated like a boneless corpse for a moment under the hot water in Naruto's hold before finally getting his brain to work enough to lift his arms and place them gently on Naruto's back.

Naruto pulled them gently out from under the water and moved back over to sit in the shallow end. "Better now?"

Sasuke nodded limply.

"It was him again, wasn't it?"

Naruto took Sasuke's lack of movement aside from stiffening as a yes.

Naruto chuckled, holding Sasuke tighter, but the raven could feel the possessiveness in his hold, and how forced his laugh was.

"He's dead Sasuke, it's ok."

Naruto paused before continuing. "…I used to wonder when I would finally be able to save you, but I've done it a few times now, and seeing you like this counts as extra points."

_This is nothing._ Sasuke thought weakly. _This is nothing compared to… no one saw, but, at the hospital… I cried for the first time in years._

_What have you done to me Naruto? How could you change me so much? Break down so many of my walls? How is it even possible?_

"You know what we haven't done yet?" Naruto asked suddenly, excited for some reason now.

"…What?" Sasuke forced out.

"We haven't picked names."

Somehow, a smirk broke through Sasuke's dead expression. He didn't know how, but Naruto had completely changed him from the cold bastard that he used to be. And now… instead of having to knock up some random girl to continue the Uchiha family, he and Naruto had to chose names for their baby.

Their baby.

That sounded incredible.

The side effects of neglect, murder, abandonment, attempted murder of friends, lack of care, zero friends, too much power and bad influences are finally catching up with Sasuke.

We're finally seeing Sasuke's withdrawal symptoms of not seeing Naruto for a long time!

And don't tell me he wouldn't act like this, because he's human, prick or not. Just kidding, I don't hate him!

Not to mention the fact that both of them are so emotionally stunted in the relationship area that they still think they each don't have feelings for the other. (ho ho, it is to laugh)

By the way, someone said they were printing this… Chase, I think… if you still are, how many pages are in it now? ;P

RR&R!


	21. Did We Ever Leave?

I don't own anything but my ideas. WARNING: ok, if I really have to warn you about lemon at this point, then you shouldn't be reading this story.

Did We Ever Leave?

Naruto's yells echoed throughout the house, and his grip on the bed sheets was about to rip the sturdy material right down the middle.

"AAH!" he shouted again, throwing his head back into the pillow as Sasuke slammed into him.

Sasuke watched the blonde writhing across the bed with lust clouding over his eyes, breathing deeply with his mouth wide open to get enough air as Sasuke pounded into him, rocking them against the bed and slamming the headboard back into the wall.

Sasuke ground to a stop suddenly, his eyes wide in shock as he stared down at Naruto.

"S…Sasuke?" Naruto looked up slowly in confusion as to why the raven had stopped.

Sasuke lunged forward, grabbing the sides of Naruto's head and pinning him back down to the bed as he harshly yanked Naruto's cheeks back.

"OW! Leggo 'astard! 'At the hell are you doing?" Naruto yelled, thrashing against the hold, his mouth held wide open with Sasuke's thumbs.

There was no doubt. The shock of thinking he had seen them had completely jolted his mind back into reality enough for him to check, but the proof was sitting right here on his lap, and quite literally too.

Fangs.

**Fangs**.

God. Damn. Fucking. Fangs.

There, where Naruto's canine teeth should have been, was a pair of very long, very sharp and very dangerous fangs.

"Naruto, is the fox horny?" Sasuke breathed, releasing his hold on the blonde's abused cheeks.

"No, I haven't felt him for a week or two." Naruto pushed himself up on one elbow, rubbing his jaw with his free hand. "Why?"

Sasuke sat back, blinking for a minute as he thought. _He… doesn't know?_

"Sasuke…?" Naruto asked slowly, reaching up to touch Sasuke's cheek when the raven suddenly threw Naruto's knee over his shoulder and rammed back into him hard enough to make Naruto's train of through completely derail. Naruto let out a moan and leaned back into the pillow, reaching up to grip the bars of the headboard to anchor himself to reality.

_Fangs? Why the hell would he have fangs if he hasn't felt the Kyuubi for a few weeks?_ Sasuke managed to keep his thoughts straight from Naruto's screams and the heat surrounding him as he continued to pump into the blonde. _Is the Kyuubi really dormant in him?_

Sasuke blinked, groaning as he pulled almost all the way out of Naruto to slam back into him with enough force to even send his grip on consciousness rocking. _Or is it just playing possum? But why would it do that?_

Later

Sasuke winced as the bright light was flashed in his eyes. White walls and bright lights did not make a good combination for someone who hadn't seen light for two weeks, just walking outside without the bandage today had almost made him put the bandage back on.

"Well, you seemed to be healed." The attendant said, laying the flashlight back down on the table. "Keep putting the drops in at night for one more week, but you shouldn't need to wear the bandage anymore. You're all set."

Sasuke nodded and stood, heading for the door and down the hallway, stopping momentarily at the raised voices coming from behind the door to the head of the hospital staff.

"If Naruto hadn't been locked up in the first place, that never would have happened."

"Tsunade, this boy—"

"If Naruto hadn't been locked away in that house and had been with Sasuke—who I have no doubt knew of his fear—then the Uchiha could have comforted him and the Kyuubi wouldn't have broken free. As it is, you should be very grateful to the Uchiha for sealing away the Kyuubi again. I think it's only temporary, but it's better than the fox having full access to the outside when ever it wanted. I think it would be a horrible mistake to lock Naruto up again just incase we get another thunderstorm while Sasuke happens to not be within running distance of his house."

"Tsunade, we strongly disagree against them becoming ANBU—"

"Naruto was already an ANBU before he left, and a **damn** good one at that—"

"He is a jinchuuriki and is unfit to—!"

"The **Kazekage** of Suna was also a jinchuuriki!" Tsunade shot back.

"They will be too dangerous together on the same team! The Uchiha is still pending further investigation and the jinchuuriki—"

"His name is Naruto." Tsunade snarled. "And yes, it will be dangerous to have them on the same team. **For their enemies**. Together, Naruto and Sasuke are a lethal team, they took the entire ANBU team down on their own without killing any of them, and they work best when they know the other is safe. Anything else?"

"He is—"

"The Yondaime would have your head if he had heard you saying anything about his son." she spat through her teeth.

Silence. That one had made them think.

"I have complete faith in this team." Tsunade continued as if nothing had happened. "The Sharingan paired with the Byakugan will make a team with impenetrable defenses, Shikamaru Nara's intelligence is one to match everyone's in the village—"

"He has no motivation! How could you put him on ANBU—"

"I have seen him when it comes down to the task at hand, and he does not disappoint." Tsunade cut him off again. "Sai's skills and training will be incredibly helpful, and despite what you may think, Naruto does have astronomical amounts of power under his own control. I have made the Uchiha captain—…"

Sasuke turned away from the door and continued down the hallway, not needing to hear anything else. Finally, Tsunade had convinced the council he would do better as ANBU. No more babysitting brats who barely know a jutsu from someone pulling flowers out of their sleeve as a pathetic Jounin.

Sasuke walked into the pediatrics room and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"How'd it go Teme?" Naruto asked, his shirt up to his chest as the technician squeezed some sort of gel onto his stomach.

"Fine Dobe." Sasuke bit back a smirk, keeping his face blank as he watched the ultrasound technician set up the machinery.

Naruto had snuck into the hospital through the roof for the ultrasound at Tsunade's request to keep the baby hidden from the council until it was too late to force Naruto into an abortion, though Sasuke had a hunch that the Kyuubi would mutilate anyone besides Naruto, him and their friends that went near the baby. The Kyuubi was very, **very **protective about certain things.

The woman turned on the screen and placed the wand on Naruto's stomach, her face furrowing in confusion after a moment as she moved it around against Naruto's skin.

"What?" Sasuke snapped.

"Huh." The woman said, trying it at a different angle. "That's odd… I can't see anything."

She shrieked suddenly as the wand started to spark with a fiery chakra and dropped it, letting it bang to the ground where it swung on its cord.

Sasuke sat leaning away from the wand. Ok, now he was positive. The Kyuubi was definitely **not** dormant, no matter what Naruto said, and he was definitely dead set on letting no one but no one near Naruto's stomach. They couldn't see into the womb because of his power, and he had just tried to kill the ultrasound technician with her own machinery.

"I think I can wager," she said shakily, rubbing her wrist, which was no doubt tingling like she'd been struck by lightning, "that your baby is… **healthy**, and **quite** safe." She picked up the wand warily and placed it back by the monitor. Meanwhile, Naruto still hadn't moved his hands from holding up his shirt and his shocked expression hadn't changed.

"M-Me too." Naruto breathed, his eye twitching once.

Two Days Later

Sasuke heaved another annoyed sigh as he continued to stand under the awning of the tiny, pathetic coffee shop he was supposed to meet Naruto at. The Dobe had been released from his parole (Sasuke could guess it had something to do with Tsunade) and he had been everywhere for an entire day to 'make up for lost time' as he had put it, but now, Sasuke was still standing under this goddamn awning, ignoring every pathetic girl ogling at him, and waiting for the damn Dobe to show up when ever he damn well pleased.

"Sasuke!" Naruto waved, finally coming into view down the road.

"You're late. By forty five minutes." Sasuke snapped as Naruto skidded to a stop by his side, covering his shins in the dirt he had kicked up by sliding. Sasuke refrained from punching the Dobe.

"Sorry." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't think this would take so long, the guy at the tattoo parlor said it would only be twenty minutes." he said, holding out his arm.

Sasuke blinked. Twice. Nope, he wasn't seeing things.

"Orange."

"Yeah!" Naruto beamed happily.

"It's orange."

Naruto nodded hugely.

"You went over your **ANBU tattoo** with **orange ink**?" Sasuke verified in disbelief.

"What do you think?" Naruto asked, twisting his arm so he could admire it.

"…I think Tsunade will have your head when she sees it." Sasuke snapped, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stomped off down the road.

"Sasuke, wait—!" Naruto yelled, sprinting to catch up with him.

"Lets go Dobe, I haven't practiced with someone even half way worth it in the training grounds for too long. We're going now." Sasuke ordered, taking a sharp right and nearly making Naruto walk into a wall because he was watching Sasuke.

"Yes master." Naruto huffed. "One on one?" he asked as they stepped into the clearing in the forest. "And using ANBU techniques?"

"What else?" Sasuke asked, heading over to a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"Well you don't have to be so—AAH!" Naruto yelped suddenly as his foot caught on a root sticking out of the ground and he did a face plant into the dirt.

"…Though maybe we should start with something simpler, say, Genin training on how to walk properly?" Sasuke said after a moment, staring down at Naruto's nose in the ground.

"Shut up Teme! I passed being a Genin a year ago and believe it or not, I **am** an ANBU!" Naruto shouted, shooting up out of the dirt and racing over to growl at Sasuke. He stopped suddenly, blinking as his eyes traced up and down Sasuke's form.

"What?" Sasuke asked warily, braced to jump back. Naruto's face grew incredibly smug, and he puffed out his chest, seeming to hold himself higher.

"**What**?" Sasuke snapped.

"…I'm taller than you."

Silence. Even the crickets were silent, they didn't dare sing at that second for fear of the Uchiha.

Sasuke's eyes snapped to the ground, scanning up and down Naruto's muscled frame. How could the Dobe **possibly** be…?

He was taller.

By about an inch and a half. (Four centimeters)

It wasn't a lot, but it was still four centimeters taller.

Sasuke's father had been rather small, and his mother too, and he and Itachi had always been a little… lean (Sasuke was** not** lanky, and would kill anyone who called him that)… while from what he'd heard, Minato had been fairly tall, about five eleven if he remembered correctly (179.5 cm)… but still, how could the Dobe be taller than him?

Sasuke was still five seven (17 cm), he hadn't grown since leaving his uncle and everyone else in Akatsuki, but Naruto… Sasuke hadn't even noticed that Naruto had kept growing, and the Dobe probably still had a little bit to go. Minato was five feet, eleven inches, and if Naruto had anything else to prove that he would continue to show more and more traits inherited by Minato, then he would keep growing for a few more inches.

Naruto was taller than him.

Sasuke was five seven.

Naruto was **five eight and a half**.

"It's only an inch and a half Dobe!" Sasuke snarled, leaping up to the tree branch above him. "And I have trouble buying that you didn't bribe the ANBU to put you on their team with your terrible skills—if that's what you want to call them!"

"**They** asked **me** thank you very much!" Naruto raised his fist at Sasuke. "Come down here and say that to my face, then I'll show you some real ANBU skill!"

"I'll believe you're ANBU when I see something ANBU worthy. You'd better start working, so far I've only seen you **trip**." Sasuke said smartly, knowing it would rile Naruto up.

Naruto's eye ticked and he yanked open his hip pouch, pulling out a strip of bandage. "You want to see ANBU skill? Be careful what you ask for…" he sang the end, tying the cloth over his eyes.

_A blindfold?_ Sasuke blinked, before Naruto proceeded to tie one wrist to the back of his belt. _Blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back. Idiot. He's just going to end up hurting himself._

"No using the Kyuubi senses." Sasuke yelled down, silently and carefully opening his own hip pouch and slipping a finger around a kunai. Wires were Itachi's specialty, Sasuke had never been a genius at them, but he was good enough to be able to have some fun with this.

"Fine." Naruto barked back, fumbling with the tie behind his head with one hand, trying to make sure it was tied tight enough. "But you'd better shut up and run before I find you now with my regular hearing." Naruto said, placing a kunai in his mouth and holding three more in his free hand, one in between each finger. "And that means you can't use your weirdo eyes either!"

_Dobe._ Sasuke rolled his eyes, crouched, and shot off the branch as silent as the breeze, not even making the branch rustle with his movement, looking back only to discover that Naruto had disappeared in the point three seconds Sasuke hadn't been watching him.

Sasuke came to a soundless landing on another branch, slipping the wires out of his bag and wrapping them around the kunai in preparation as his eyes watched the forest around him, tying small knots in the wires and attaching the kunai.

Something flashed behind him, and Sasuke whipped around, launching the net of wire and kunai into the trees. The kunai thunked into the wood of the tree trunks, but the net was empty. Sasuke swore silently, jumping to another branch further away from the net as he drew more wires out of his bag and knotted them to the kunai.

Sasuke crept silently through the trees, winding the wire around his forefinger to be ready to throw it at any time as his eyes flicked around him. How could Naruto be so silent and mask his chakra so well when he was blindfolded?

Sasuke stepped silently to the next branch, whipping one of his kunai behind him and smirking at the small thud. A cloud of smoke suddenly exploded from the trees and parted to reveal a hunk of log with a note reading 'missed me!' with a smiley face on it.

_Substitution jutsu. _Sasuke's eye twitched and he started swinging his other kunai around on his fingers, looking carefully around him. _Is he using the Body Flicker Technique? But how can he use that over such long distances, without any traces of chakra and blindfolded?_ It was no wonder the ANBU had approached Naruto, the Dobe had seriously improved in the time they'd been apart.

Sasuke shook his head to clear his mind of those memories and looked around again.

_That isn't important; it's over, gone and __**done with**__._ His preoccupied mind didn't even notice that he had stepped right off the branch until he was falling one hundred feet to the ground.

Sasuke's head snapped to the right and he lashed out with his kunai, throwing them into the leaves and keeping a tight hold on the strings, yanking hard on them when he felt the sturdy wires curl around something.

_Got you!_

The wires snapped suddenly, sending him tumbling back as he had no leverage beneath him. The broken ends of the wire were sent suddenly flying to the right, forcing them out of Sasuke's grip. He swore and flipped himself to land on one of the branches only to have the log he had hit earlier with the kunai leap off of the branch and wrap the wire it had attached to it around Sasuke's legs firmly enough to almost send him toppling over off the branch.

Sasuke swore and glared at the log as it turned back into Naruto in the flash of more smoke, smirking at him from behind the blindfold. Sasuke grabbed another kunai from his bag and stabbed it at the blonde, only to find in another cloud of smoke that he had hit another log instead.

He bit his lip in frustration and slashed at the wires around his legs, when out of nowhere, another one of his discarded wires lashed out of the trees and snapped around his wrist, yanking him back and by default making him get his feet tangled in the wires again as he fell back and the wire net he had made earlier flew out of the trees. The wire around his wrist seemed to thread itself through the net and back again to wrap around his other wrist and then his ankles, pinning him like a trapped bird to the net as four more flashes of orange tied the net to the trees around him and then disappeared.

Sasuke yanked back against the hold when Naruto suddenly flew out of the trees above him and landed gracefully on the net, yanking off his blindfold as he did and smirking down at Sasuke, his knees placed on either side of Sasuke's hips as he straddled the raven without actually touching him.

"You cheated." Sasuke snapped, pulling again on his wrists.

"Didn't." Naruto said smugly, hold the cloth out teasingly.

Sasuke blinked before it clicked what Naruto was planning to do. "No." he snarled. "Absolutely not—" he was cut off sharply as Naruto shoved the bandage over his eyes and tied it tightly behind his head.

"You'll thank me in a minute." Naruto promised, teasing along the hem of Sasuke's shirt with his nails. Sasuke shivered involuntarily to the touch, and it wasn't because of the cold. Come to think of it, it was about the end of September now, wasn't it, and round Konoha the weather got cold quickly—

Sasuke train of thought was chopped off sharply as Naruto slid his hand under Sasuke's shirt and tweaked his nipple, making the raven groan.

"I told you—oh."

"…What?" Sasuke forced out, straining against the damned wires. Why'd the idiot stop?

"Wow."

Sasuke shivered again, but this time, it **was **because of the cold as something icy hit his stomach, melting into a tiny, frozen drop of water on his hot skin.

"It's snowing." Naruto said almost in awe.

"Naruto!" Sasuke barked, struggling against the wires and trying to pry the blindfold off by rubbing the back of his head against the net. For god's sake, Naruto tied knots like he'd been in the army all his fucking life!

His next snarl bubbled into a startled groan as Naruto's hand slid over his stomach again, and he fought to arch his back naturally into the touch but the wires kept him from moving at all.

Naruto snickered excitedly, hooking his fingers in Sasuke's pants and slowly wriggling them down a few inches, trying to tease the raven into desperation. Sasuke groaned, imagining his breath fogging up in the cold air as Naruto teased around his balls and cock, deliberately not touching him anywhere.

"Naruto—" he started to warn when all of a sudden the blonde's hands were gone and he had taken Sasuke completely in his mouth.

Sasuke groaned, arching again and straining his muscles against the netting, his tongue letting out occasional moans as he choked on his hot breath, Naruto's tongue working over him making him lose control of all function of his body.

He could feel his muscles tensing up, his lungs and heart working themselves into a frenzy as Naruto worked faster, holding Sasuke's hips down to completely pin him to the net, and Sasuke didn't give a damn anymore if he couldn't move or see, as long as Naruto didn't stop.

His head snapped back, his muscles clenching almost painfully as he bit into his tongue to silence himself, and then his spine quaked as something erupted inside of him and he was left gasping for breath against the net.

"…You know…" Naruto said slowly a moment after Sasuke had regained control of his lungs, sitting back on the net, "I kind of like you tied up like this. No death glares, you can't hit me—"

"NARUTO!"

"Alright, alright, calm down! Jeez, Teme." Naruto pulled the bandage off of Sasuke's eyes and undid the ties on his wrists. He smiled suddenly and leaned in quickly, pecking Sasuke lightly on the lips before leaping off the raven and into the trees. "See you back at the house Teme!" Naruto waved from the branch before dematerializing before Sasuke.

Sasuke sat on the net for a moment longer, staring after Naruto, his lips oddly warn considering the tiny white crystals drifting all around him.

…Were they really just best friends to him? That was **not **something that just best friends did, kiss like… like… a husband and wife.

_Idiot._ Sasuke growled, yanking his ankles free and moving to untie the wires from the trees. Naruto had left him to clean up all of the mess.

Two Days Later

Sasuke sat back slowly, his eyes and fingers sliding over the soft cloth he had accidentally come across. The blue cloth was as soft as he remembered everything of hers to be, and it still smelled like her too he realized as he held the dark cloth close to his face.

His mother's scarf.

The dark navy cloth hadn't faded with the dust or the lack of light while it had been shut away in the basement the years he'd been gone, and the Uchiha symbol's colors were still as brilliant as if the fan had been stitched on just that morning.

The scarf was long, at least twice as long as he was. He remembered his mother used to wrap it twice around her neck and it would still only be about five inches off the ground. He was about seven centimeters taller than Mikoto had been, but it was still a very long scarf, and also rather thick, Mikoto often wore it as a shawl.

He couldn't help but smirk as he remembered one snowy day before he had been old enough to go to the academy and Itachi and his father had been out, when he and Mikoto had gone out to the market for dinner and it had started snowing on the way back. Even wrapped around both of their necks and between both of their height differences, the scarf had still gone down to their chests.

_Perfect for an ANBU length._ Sasuke though absently as he laid the scarf down beside the box of old things he had long since packed away when the door to the basement clicked open.

"Sasuke?" Naruto called down into the darkness. "Why is it so dark down here? Did the lights blow?" more clicking from the light switch was Naruto's answer, though blown probably wasn't the right word. They hadn't been changed in a years, well before Sasuke had even left the village. He didn't think he'd been down here since… since he packed away everything that reminded him of his family, just after they'd died.

"Hang on, I'll go get a candle." Naruto called down before walking away.

Sasuke sighed and looked back to the box. How had he even missed how dark it was?

A small flickering light wavered and came closer down the stairs.

"I couldn't find I candle, but I should do alright."

Sasuke turned around and blinked at Naruto. The jinchuuriki had a large flame of chakra float above his shoulder as he stood eating out of a bowl with a spoon. Sasuke guessed that from the thickness and the darkness of the… **stuff**, that it was Naruto's wasabi and soy sauce mixture.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked around a mouthful of the stuff.

"Nothing."

"…Alright, fine, be that way." Naruto huffed, setting his empty bowl down on the table before walking further into the depths of the basement. "What else is down here? I've never been here before. And I doubt anyone else has either, unless you cook them." He added the last part under his breath.

"I heard you!" Sasuke snapped. "And don't leave your bowl here!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it in a second." Naruto said in a lazy droll, pulling a box of the shelf. "More dishes along with the ones upstairs? What did your mom…" he trailed off, suddenly realizing what he was about to say.

"…She had kind of a housework fetish, yeah." Sasuke finished for him, smirking as he picked up the scarf again.

"…And your dad?" Naruto asked unsurely, not even positive if he would continue living if he said anymore on the topic.

"A fetish for my brother. Aniki was better than the sun to him."

Naruto laughed at that and pushed the box back up onto the shelf.

_And Itachi had a fetish for this goddamn village. _Sasuke finished in his head, holding the scarf closer to him as he did. _I wonder if Itachi's ANBU uniform is down here? …No, he left wearing it._

"I'm going back upstairs." Naruto called from the stairs. "Oh, the bowl."

Sasuke put the lid on the box and set it back on the shelf as Naruto walked over and grabbed the bowl. Sasuke gripped the cool cloth of the scarf once more before a tiny smile cracked through his defenses, though he immediately shoved it away and turned around.

"Here." He handed it to Naruto before starting immediately up the stairs. He didn't want to hear anything that Naruto might have said; he couldn't handle it right then. "You don't have one right?"

Naruto stood in silence for a few seconds before finally whipping around as the door clicked shut. He stood there for a moment, light flickering behind him as he rolled out the long cloth, being careful to hold it off the ground.

…_Perfume?_ Naruto's brow furrowed as he sniffed it carefully. Either Sasuke was a little less manly than Naruto had originally though, or…

_His mother's?_ Naruto blinked before smiling and holding the cloth close. _But why would he give me something so important?_

Next Day

"Are you sure you want this on the back of an ANBU chest plate?" the girl in the shop asked unsurely. "I thought they were all supposed to be standard…" she trailed off as she took the money Sasuke had handed her and passed him the Sasuke chest armor.

Sasuke had gotten it died a deep navy to match what his old clothes looked like and gotten the Uchiha symbol printed on the back partially because he wanted to sort of rub in the council's face that he was an ANBU and an Uchiha, but also because those were the colors and the symbol of his family. The other part, though he would never admit it, was that he had recently refused to wear anything but the black Sasuke uniform Naruto had gotten him in Sasuke, and there for needed a dark chest plate to match. He would tell people only over his dead body, but he hated mismatching his clothes, it was something that his mother had hated, and it seemed he'd inherited that gene.

"This will be fine." Sasuke said, taking the armor and stepping out of the shop.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, and Sasuke turned to see Naruto running toward him, his mother's scarf wrapped around Naruto's neck to protect him from the cold. Sasuke couldn't smother the tiny smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Where the heck were you?" Naruto began shuffling around in the bag on his arm and suddenly pulled out a small bundle, placing it in Sasuke's hand. "Open it!" he chirped. "Hey wow!" his mouth dropped open as he held up the chest plate Sasuke had just gotten, admiring the Uchiha symbol on the back.

Sasuke sighed and complied, unwrapping the bundle and letting the cloth inside unroll. He had to catch the end a few times so it didn't hit the snowy ground, but soon it had opened all the way and he could hold it up to inspect it.

A scarf, a thick, sturdy scarf made with the cloth like the one Sasuke had given Naruto. It was orange, a bright glowing orange with bright red flames decorating the hems. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how the flames seemed to match the fire designs on the jacket the Yondaime wore.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't really have any family colors, so…"

Sasuke answered silently by wrapping the scarf firmly around his neck, instantly noticing the warmth it held in like a furnace. He blinked down at the chest plate Naruto was holding. _Of course._

"Come on Naruto. Let's see how much we can piss the council off." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him back into the tiny shop.

"Sasuke, I-I don't know…"

"It's just customized Naruto, don't freak out." Sasuke took the scarf from around his neck and placed it on the counter in front of the again stunned girl. "I need another ANBU chest plate in black, with the orange and red flames on the back."

"A-Alright." The girl nodded warily, picking up the scarf with some difficulty of its length and carrying it to the back counter. "Should I use your measurements again, or…?"

"No." Sasuke pushed Naruto gently toward her. "His."

It was perfect, Sasuke would have his family colors and symbol for the chest armor and Naruto's colors for his scarf and Naruto would have his colors and symbol (he might have to make the flames officially as the Uzumaki symbol, Naruto was using them a lot now and it seemed to fit him) and the Uchiha colors and symbol on his scarf.

Sasuke looked to where Naruto was bending in all sorts of outrageous directions for the girl to get his measurements and smirked to himself. With this, he and Naruto were declaring each other claimed to the world, and the council could suck it. What could they do anyway? Naruto was a hero of the village, and he wasn't a threat to it anymore, they couldn't do anything.

RR&R!

All right everyone, I'm taking requests for a one-shot yaoi!

(Or it could be a straight couple, or even yuri but then there would be no lemon)

So get on the floor and beg!

Kidding, I really want to write a one-shot with a yaoi couple, maybe lemon, but I'm kinda blanking on ideas ~^_^~

Go ahead and request your favorite couples (yaoi, yuri or straight) from Naruto, Inuyasha, Bleach, Ouran High School or Fruits Basket in a comment. I might just pick yours!

Have you ever had a fanficiton fantasy and wanted to see it put into words but didn't want to write it yourself?

Make sure to give me some ideas for the story, not just the couple! I might even pick a story because I like the idea so much, not because I'm as gaga over the couple as you are!

Good luck to everyone's ideas!


	22. Run, Just Run

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Run, Just Run

"_**SASUKE**__!" _

_Something slammed into Sasuke's side like a freight train, knocking him flying, tearing Orochimaru's snakes roughly away from him as they were still anchored to the ground, and the sound of metal slicing through skin echoed throughout the forest, blood that wasn't his own spattering Sasuke's torso._

_He dragged his hand into the ground, righting himself as fast as he could despite the pain that made his spine feel like it was going to split in two, and stared in horror at the body lying on the ground exactly where he had been a quarter of a second ago._

"_Naruto. Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, staggering to his feet and running for the blonde as fast as his injured legs would permit. He skidded to a halt and lifted Naruto's limp body off the ground, cupping his cheek to hold his head up. He desperately pressed a hand over the deep, large gash in Naruto's chest, trying to stop the bleeding._

"_Sasuke." Naruto cracked a weak smile, his pupils already blown and his eyes glazed over._

"_Damn it Usuratonkachi! What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell…?"_

"_Sas…uke." Naruto said slowly, trying to get the raven's attention as best he could._

"_I'm here." Sasuke gritted his teeth, gripping Naruto's hand tightly as he draped the limp jinchuuriki across his lap, holding him in close to his chest. "I'm right here Dobe."_

"_S…six months…"_

"_What?"_

"_I'm… six months… you always wanted a family… the baby's old enough to survive… get the old hag to take it out… you can have… the family you wanted…"_

_Sasuke was frozen. Naruto was telling him that the baby was old enough to survive out of the womb even without the maternal parent. He wanted to yell. He wanted to scream at Naruto for even suggesting that he would die, but his body wouldn't move. He was a statue, sitting there like a sitting duck with Orochimaru hovering over his head, ready to stick a blade through his heart. What the hell was wrong with him?_

"_I'm… s-sorry…" Naruto said slowly, his hand reaching up before it fell back to his side, and he was still._

"_Naruto." Sasuke said stiffly, shaking Naruto with enough force to rock a building. "__**Naruto**__!"_

_Nothing._

_The air was deathly silent; even the wind was completely still. _

"_No." Sasuke seemed to be ordering, shaking Naruto's body again. "Don't you dare let him die. Damn it Kyuubi, don't you __**dare**__ let him die!"_

"_Naruto…" Sasuke whispered, looking down to the form on the ground, lying in a puddle of blood on his lap._

_Sasuke ran his thumb across Naruto's bottom lip, wiping away the blood that had dripped from his mouth. His fingers ran over Naruto's eyelids, cheeks, cheekbones; tracing patterns into the cold skin. It felt wrong. Naruto's body had never ever been this cold, ever. He wasn't supposed to be this cold._

_Sasuke could feel the heat of his rage subsiding and giving way to a new heat. A lump in his throat was constricting his breath and he as biting so deeply into his tongue it was bleeding._

"_Dobe." Sasuke hissed, holding the back of Naruto's neck as he touched his forehead to the jinchuuriki's. "Stupid, useless Usuratonkachi. You can't do anything right, can you?"_

_Sasuke opened his eyes; he could vaguely hear someone… Tsunade screaming for some sort of bandages to stop the bleeding, but his mind was too numb to register looking at anything but Naruto. Naruto's eyes were glazed, and it might be dangerous, but…_

_Sasuke's finger reached up slightly and held back Naruto's eyelid more, opening the doorway to his mind. He licked his lips and the Sharingan began to spin in his eyes again, and he landed in water, the same knee-deep water he had been in so recently when he had woken Naruto up, but Naruto's mind was different this time._

_Sasuke couldn't see the cage, he couldn't see the labyrinth of the Kyuubi's mind, he couldn't even feel the boiling heat of the water; he couldn't see anything. There was nothing but darkness around him._

_It was pitch black, and the air was thick._

_Even the water Sasuke was walking through was cold, like Naruto's skin. Like someone had poured ice water on the fire keeping Naruto alive._

_Sasuke took an experimental step forward, the water rippling around his feet as he did, and something started to flicker like a dying light around him._

_The light morphed, bubbling into a… memory. It was the school with everyone no more than eleven years old, after watching for a few more seconds Sasuke was able to identify it as the day—_

_Ino and Sakura smashed into the room, fighting each other the entire way and yelling about who had gotten their toe in the room first. They stopped instantly when they saw him, and Sakura ran for the seat beside him, bulldozing Naruto along the way. Sasuke inwardly felt badly for the way Sakura always treated Naruto._

"_Um, Sasuke? May I sit with you?"_

_Sasuke could feel himself grimacing along with his younger self as he glared straight ahead of him, when out of nowhere Naruto was perched in front of his face on the desk. Sasuke remembered exactly just what day this was when the person in front of Naruto suddenly stood up and sent Naruto tumbling forward, right into Sasuke's lips._

_The air around Sasuke bubbled again as Sasuke smirked at how long they had come from that accidental kiss. He was pretty sure there was a song about that, accidentally falling in love or something, but who cared._

_The next memory was just a simple one. Sasuke watched in amusement as Naruto flailed about, tied to the log in Kakashi's test when only he and Sakura had been allowed to eat. Kakashi was nowhere in sight, and all at once Sasuke passed his bento box over to Naruto._

_The memories where flickering around him like a dying light, seeming to pull away as they flashed by. Him helping Naruto back to the house in Water Country after they had both made it to the top of the tallest trees in the training forest, Naruto looking down at Sasuke as he woke up after Haku had nearly killed him on the bridge, Naruto slinging his arm around Sasuke's shoulder as they prepared to leave Water Country… the rest were too blurry and too far away to see, and then everything faded to black again._

_Sasuke sucked in a quick breath as he started to feel the air being sucked out of his lungs like a vacuum, and the space around him seeming to compress more._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke barked into the blackness, taking another step into the blackness. He gritted his teeth in frustration, even the water was becoming thicker along with the air around him._

"_You broke your promise again." A voice finally echoed through the darkness. It was all around Sasuke, impossible to place, but it was also far away and fading fast. _

"_Narut—"_

"_You promised you wouldn't fucking leave me! And then you went to find that bastard Orochimaru!" even yelling, Naruto's voice was so far away Sasuke had to strain to hear it, and it was weak. There was no power behind the yell, and the air was getting thicker by the second, more impossible to breathe. _

_He was dying. Sasuke could feel Naruto dying all around him._

"_Dobe, you really are an idiot if you think I'm just going to let you go." Sasuke forced another three steps through the water, now as thick as half-dried cement._

"_You can't find me… I don't even know where I am, the Kyuubi isn't here, I can't feel…"_

"_Naruto!" Sasuke shouted in a panic as Naruto's voice died away, too quiet to hear the rest of what the blonde said._

"_I'm still here." Naruto said after a moment, he sounded weak, out of breath, like he'd just been fighting for days… or had a hole punched through his chest with a sword meant to seal away your soul._

"_Naruto, we're going back, __**now**__. Get over here Dobe."_

"…_I… can't."_

_Sasuke's head whipped to the right in shock as something moved by him. _

_It was a little boy, with scarred cheeks to look like whiskers, golden hair and blue eyes, no more than six years old. The boy was crouching in a patch of light, hugging himself as tears poured down his cheeks. Fresh cuts and bruises on his skin were oozing blood, but before Sasuke's eyes, they began to heal themselves until there was nothing to show that the little boy was even hurt._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke lunged at the boy as he started to fade, but his hand only went through the boy's shoulder before the child disappeared into the blackness._

"_It's too dark…" Naruto whimpered through the darkness as another boy appeared, slightly older this time. He was leaning against a tree, staring out sadly into the distance. As Sasuke watched, another boy appeared on the opposite side of the tree, much younger again. He couldn't have been more than three. The little boy had fallen asleep lying next to the tree._

_Sasuke blinked as both again disappeared, finally understanding why Naruto's mind was like this._

_The alone feeling; the feeling of no one but yourself to comfort you. It was a smothering feeling, crushing and black and suffocating, and as long as it was only Naruto, the feeling wouldn't go away._

"_Usuratonkachi, get the hell over here before I come and hunt you down!" Sasuke barked, his eyes flicking to the right as he watched Naruto's fifteen year old self holding his two year old self, cradling him in his lap as the younger one slept, the older one smiling sadly down at him._

_Sasuke spread he feet apart, waiting until he saw the present day Naruto. If it kept going, the next child would be less than one and a seventeen-year-old Naruto, and then newborn and the nineteen-year-old Naruto would be with him._

_Sasuke watched as the fifteen and two year old Naruto faded away into the blackness, and the seventeen and one year old Naruto appeared. Naruto was wearing his Jounin outfit, holding the one year old him against his shoulder, staring out to something Sasuke couldn't see in the distance. And then, they too disappeared, and something else began to appear in the distance._

_Sasuke shot through the tar-like water, running as hard as he could for the flickering image in the distance. It was Naruto, nineteen and wearing his ANBU uniform, holding a tiny bundle in his arms, but this Naruto didn't look relaxed or sad like the others had been. _

_The infant in his arms was screaming, and Naruto's eyes were the distinct red with black slit pupils. His head whipped around him, and Sasuke could feel the chakra in the air that Naruto used to sense when someone was approaching using the Kyuubi's hyper senses. The only thing was that when Naruto used the hyper senses, the chakra was so miniscule it was undetectable, and now Sasuke could feel it in every micron in the air. Naruto was running from something horrible, that much was obvious._

"_Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, lunging out for the blonde. Their eyes met once, and then Sasuke's hand slipped right through Naruto's chest as Naruto began to fade._

"_**Naruto**__!" Sasuke yelled, going silent at the sound of something whimpering for off. He straightened and looked back to where he had come, wading back through the water to the sound._

_A bassinet floated on the water, waving and bobbing over the water. Sasuke stepped up to it and looked down at the tiny bundle of white cloth. His hand snaked out, though it felt again disconnected from his body, and pulled back the blanket. Naruto's normal, sky blue eyes stared back up at him. They were beautiful, and huge on the infant watching him with curiosity. This tiny little baby was indescribably amazing._

_Sasuke knelt in the water, his hands fluttering for a minute over the baby who was watching him with his huge blue eyes. He had never held a baby before, he had been the baby in his entire family, no one was younger than him, and babies had quite honestly always annoyed him. Not to mention the fact that he had never associated with anyone out of his family, and then when they had died he hadn't made any friends that he was normally with that happened to have a baby in their family._

It's just Naruto, he isn't a glass doll, just pretend he's bigger like normal.

_Sasuke slid his hand under the baby, lifting him out of the basinet. He was sort of shocked that his hands didn't go through this Naruto, and also because Naruto's neck didn't work, his head just flopped around like it hadn't been properly attached to his body, so he took extra care to hold the back of his neck steady._

_Sasuke was holding Naruto at arms length, a little nervous to hold him any closer just incase something happened._

_Naruto blinked at him once more with his huge blue eyes, before smiling widely as he faded away, leaving Sasuke holding nothing in his hands._

Sasuke rocketed up in bed, throwing the covers back and letting his head drop heavily into his hands as he tried to breathe slowly. Goddamn fucking dreams! They weren't even dreams, they were just nightmares. Sasuke didn't have dreams, only nightmares, he'd never had a pleasant dream that he could remember, only the terrors of the darkness and his memories.

_It's ok, it alright, just breathe. Breathe, dammit Uchiha! _Sasuke ordered himself, lifting his head out of his hands and turning to look at Naruto, sleeping peacefully beside him.

Naruto was really six months along.

Six months pregnant, and carrying his baby.

His baby.

**His **baby.

That felt so indescribably amazing to him, words couldn't begin to put across what he was feeling. Even thoughts couldn't really do it well enough.

It was kind of a pain, even though Naruto's muscled stomach hid some of the bump, he was still six months along and had to stay in the house more often than not so the council wouldn't find out. No files were kept on anything to do with a spike in food, vitamins or any visits to the hospital for safety; it was just better not to have them around.

Sasuke ran his hands roughly through his hair again, resting his forehead on the heels of his palms as he went back to slowly counting his breathing, bringing it back down to a less-than-sprinting pace.

"You didn't wake me."

Sasuke turned slowly to find Naruto glaring up at him.

"Apparently, I did." Sasuke returned easily.

"I told you to **wake me** when you have a nightmare." Naruto ground out through his teeth.

"And I said that apparently I did." Sasuke shot back. "You're awake, aren't you?"

"It wasn't intentional!" Naruto shouted, pushing himself up in the bed. "You know all about me and the goddamn thunderstorms, this is the least—!"

"You don't need to repay me, Dobe." Sasuke snapped, standing up and walking toward the bathroom when Naruto kicked the back of his knees sharply, sending him flying back onto the bed.

"Why wont you tell me? Why the hell don't you trust me?" Naruto all but screamed.

"What the hell Dobe—!" he was cut off as Naruto literally appeared on top of him, knees on either side of his waist, hands on either side of his head as Naruto glared down at him, and out of nowhere smashed his lips against the raven's, effectively knocking their heads together and sending Sasuke for a loop so his vision was spinning, but that didn't stop Naruto.

"Why?" Naruto moaned around ravishing Sasuke's neck. Sasuke reached up to stop him but Naruto's hands had moved in a flash and were pinning his wrists to the bed. "Why dammit?"

"Naru—"

"Why?" Naruto whispered through the kisses. "And why the hell wont you give me a straight answer?" he barked as an after fact.

"I told you I don't—" Sasuke tried again, damn near shouting now along with Naruto.

"Do you know how many why's I've held in over the years just because I knew you wouldn't even answer me?" Naruto cut him off sharply.

Sasuke blinked. "Huh—?"

"Take a wild guess!" Naruto yelled, now not looking at Sasuke, his eyes hidden behind his long golden bangs. "Just guess a random fucking number, because I sure as hell don't know, it's too much to fucking count!"

"Then it's more than I care to guess."

"**Damn it**!" Naruto roared, throwing himself off Sasuke and storming out the door, which he slammed harshly behind him, hard enough for Sasuke to be able to hear it echo around the house through the door.

Sasuke sighed and pushed himself up, rubbing his wrists tenderly, looking down in confusion when they felt wet.

_Blood?_ He held it up to the light, finding five, tiny identical cuts on the back of his wrists. _Claws._ He thought grimly, gritting his teeth and punching the pillow as hard as he could before standing up and marching after Naruto.

_But… he controlled himself…_ Sasuke blinked, _even though he was mad…_

Sasuke jumped lightly over the railing, landing lightly on the ground three floors below.

"Dobe?" he called, looking through the kitchen and living room as he walked outside. It was three in the morning, what was Naruto doing outside—oh.

Sasuke leaned against the doorframe as he watched Naruto utterly demolish every dummy in the training grounds and made a mental note to buy more dummies, because these ones would be useless by the time Naruto was done with them.

Naruto's fists were blurs before all of a sudden the dummy flew back into the trees and Naruto rounded on the next unsuspecting straw person. It was a good thing they were reinforced with chakra, or Naruto would be working on the right side of the house because there would be no more dummies left.

"Usuratonkachi."

"You still don't trust me, is that it?"

Smash. That was another dummy he had to replace.

"Are you planning on trusting anyone in the rest of your perfect Uchiha life?"

Crash. And there went another.

"Naru—"

"**What the hell are we anyway Sasuke**?" **Crunch**. "Is this—am I just some passing whim that you're going to dump in some ditch on the side of the road when your good and—"

"Fine."

Crack. Sasuke could hear the click in Naruto's head as he registered what Sasuke had said.

"Huh?" Naruto turned to him.

"You want me to wake you up next time? Fine, just don't come complaining to me when I wake you up at three in the morning." Sasuke whirled, stomping back into the house.

Naruto blinked before smirking slightly and jumping up through the window of their bedroom and quickly slipping under the covers just as Sasuke walked in the door. He blinked slightly at Naruto before figured it out and continued to sit on the bed.

Naruto inched slowly out from under the covers and draped himself across Sasuke's back, slipping a hand across Sasuke's unclothed chest and shifting so he was wrapping his legs around Sasuke just enough, smirking to himself when he felt Sasuke's breathing pick up the pace under his hand.

"Naruto… you can't… Tsunade said… we can't…"

"She said that we couldn't have sex only if it's not a normal pregnancy." Naruto slid around Sasuke and deposited himself in the raven's lap, sucking at his neck eagerly.

"You…" Sasuke forced out, repeating haikus of peace over and over again in his head, "you have **anything**… but a… normal…"

"True, but I think the giant orange dust mite makes it the safest thing it can be." Naruto said slyly, sliding backwards off Sasuke's lap. Sasuke could feel his eyes go wide as it clicked what Naruto was going to do.

"Still want to stop?" Naruto joked, teasing Sasuke's manhood lightly through his loose shorts.

"Naruto…" Sasuke said, though it came out as more of a moan, leaning his head back.

"Ok if I continue?"

"Uhh."

"You sure?"

"Uuuuuuhh." Great. Monosyllables. But he couldn't make his mouth say anything else.

"Alright then, hold still." Naruto smiled, hooking his thumbs around the waist of Sasuke's pants.

Next Day

Sasuke ran a tired hand through his hair and pulled open the door to a terrified looking chunin shivering on his doorstep. The nerve. He could have at least **looked** like he was halfway intelligent.

"I, uh, I have a note from the Hokage…" the man said slowly, holding out the tiny slip of paper. That was odd, it wasn't in a formal letter like she always wrote it in just to piss him off?

Sasuke took the note and unfolded it, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes and read the note quickly.

_Get out. The council found out about the baby. Don't do anything else, just run._

Sasuke felt his throat run dry in an instant. If he had been tired, he wasn't anymore. There was no way they would be able to take on everyone the council sent without starting a small war, and even then it might be every ANBU, Jounin and chunin…

"S-sir?" the chunin asked carefully.

Sasuke reached around the inside of the door and grabbed his wallet off the shelf, tearing it open and stuffing all the cash he had into the chunin's hand.

"Go." He ordered, looking around as the chunin stared at the money. "You were never here, you haven't seen this note, you never met Tsunade to get it and you've never been to this house in your life. And you'll be dead if you say anything to anyone or get seen on the way out, got it?"

"The Hokage already paid me—" the chunin said warily, gaping at the huge wad of cash in his hands.

"Did you hear me?" Sasuke roared, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I said go!"

The chunin nodded quickly and leapt into the trees, heading away from the village and apparently taking the long way around so as not to arouse suspicion.

Sasuke slammed the door behind him—convinced that no one was near the compound yet—and literally flew through the house, destroying the paper in his hands in an instant with a spark of electricity big enough to short out the entire house.

"Naruto!" Sasuke roared, smashing through the door to their bedroom and grabbing his scrolls off the top of the bookshelf, sending the vase Naruto had put up there smashing to the floor. "Pack right now!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto scrambled out of bed, looking frantically at the broken fragments of the door Sasuke hadn't bothered to open before coming in and watching as Sasuke worked like a whirlwind, sealing practically everything in the room into a scroll faster than Naruto had seen anyone else before. "Sasuke, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"Not now!" Sasuke yelled, stuffing the scroll into a belt and throwing it around his waist as he flew out the door and over the railing. "Please, just pack!"

Naruto blinked once after Sasuke before ripping two more empty scrolls off the shelf and sealing their clothes, including their ANBU armor and scarves into one and their bedrolls, extra blankets and toiletries into the other, working just as fast as Sasuke.

It was the panicking, Sasuke never panicked, so when he did freak, it was for a pretty goddamn good reason. That was enough to spur Naruto into movement.

Sasuke was flying through the kitchen, sealing everything it in (taking extra care to make sure he had enough sure he had enough wasabi and soy sauce) and threw the money into that scroll while he was at it before sticking that into his belt.

Naruto landed in front of him as he jumped off the balcony, his hitai-ate tied over his head to hide his hair and his black ANBU cloak on, the belt with scrolls around his waist (though with a little difficulty due to the pregnancy).

"The Uchiha scrolls downstairs!"

Sasuke nodded and smashed through the basement door like he had the bedroom door as he unrolled another empty scroll. He didn't even know what things they were getting, he just knew that he and Naruto were throwing everything that the council might be able to use into the scroll, and that was fine with him.

"Clothes?" Sasuke rattled off, half shouting everything in his rush.

"Got 'em." Naruto returned in another half shout.

"Beds?"

"Yep. Food? Money?"

"Both, brushes?"

"Everything like that, sentimental value things?"

Sasuke blinked before grabbing the box he'd found his mother's scarf in and threw that in the scroll to, rolling it up and jamming it into the belt.

Naruto suddenly perked up, his head tilted slightly to the right. "They're here."

"Who?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto shook his head. "Can't tell, but there's a lot. Sasuke, what is going on—oh no." Naruto froze for a second before shooting back up the stairs faster than Sasuke would have been able to see if he hadn't been looking with the Sharingan since he'd read the note.

And then he could sense them, which meant that they were getting close, and fast. "Naruto!" he yelled, rocketing back up the stairs. Where the hell did the Dobe go?

Sasuke rocketed toward the sound of breaking glass above him and leapt up to the third floor as the first of the ANBU smashed through a window. Sasuke dodged the swinging sword and drove his fist into the man's face, shattering his mask as he didn't stop running.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke whipped his sword out of its hilt at the sound of more breaking glass as ANBU and Jounin alike began pouring through the windows, and he was just thanking the skies that Kakashi wasn't one of them.

Naruto burst out of the bedroom and joined Sasuke in the thick of the fight, using his kunai—heated with the Kyuubi's rage—to drive as many as he could off without having to hurt them.

"You went back to get **that**?"

"This is more important to me than you can imagine!" Naruto shot back, shoving Sasuke's old Konoha hitai-ate with the slash through it into one of his pockets as he continued fighting.

Sasuke whirled to the sound of Naruto crying out sharply as a Ninjato tore through Naruto's thigh and got his own arm slashed in the meantime when he was distracted.

"Naruto, get out of here!"

"I ca—"

"Get going!" Sasuke roared. "Don't wait! They want you, not me! Go, **now**!"

Naruto slashed through another Jounin's arm before nodding, and he launched himself up out of the fight and through the roof.

"ANBU follow!" one of the ANBU ordered. "Jounin hold the Uchiha back!"

Sasuke launched himself at one of the ANBU as he leapt for the hole in the roof, and in slicing his arm off nearly got his own leg amputated when a Jounin caught him off guard.

Sasuke felt the spike in the Kyuubi's chakra, and then Naruto's presence was gone. Sasuke instantly whirled on the rest of the people fighting him, now no longer needing to pay attention to Naruto with the Sharingan. They would pay for this, pay like they'd died and gone to hell.

XXX

Sasuke let out another short laugh, resting his hand against a tree as he paused. Damn that ANBU and her poisons, Sasuke could feel the fatigue seeping into every cell in his body, and just from that tiny goddamn nick on his ankle too. Fuck them, well, at least they would all be in a coma for a week for what they did. Bastards, Naruto was supposed to be a hero to them.

Sasuke looked back over his shoulder again.

Naruto.

Again. The Dobe had lost his home again. First with his parents, and then when he had to leave because of the Kyuubi, and now this… Sasuke gritted his teeth and pushed himself forward before he passed out against a tree. He was getting more tired by the second.

"Sasuke." Naruto breathed in clear thanks, leaping down from the top of the tree and holding Sasuke up.

"Why do you sound like you're thanking the skies?" Sasuke huffed breathlessly. "You're acting like you thought I was going to die."

"Teme!" Naruto snapped, letting go of Sasuke suddenly and dropping him face first to the ground. "See? You look like you just barely survived a war! You can't even stand up!" he barked triumphantly, jabbing a finger at Sasuke's back.

"It was the last one Dobe." Sasuke said around the light dusting of snow on the ground, his face in the dirt, glaring up at Naruto the best he could. Dammit, now he was getting cold. "She was the last one standing and caught me off guard with some sort of needle, and it was drugged with a **sleeping poison**." Sasuke growled.

"If you'd let me stay, I could've helped." Naruto returned as he crossed his arms. Sasuke swore under his breath as it started to snow, it wasn't that he couldn't move, but with the poison, he really didn't **want** to. Dammit, now he was really cold.

"Why aren't you upset or something?" Sasuke snapped, turning his head to look up at Naruto, who instantly stiffened. "You don't even care about leaving the village?"

"Thanks." Naruto said softly, **too** softly, he always did that to keep his voice from cracking when he was sad. "I **was** trying not to think of that. I don't really need anymore Kyuubi mishaps, especially because that's why they…"

Sasuke sighed before turning his face back into the snow. Maybe he would just fall asleep, it would save him the pain through freezing to death. Just go to sleep and not wake up, yeah, that sounded—

Naruto bent down suddenly and heaved Sasuke up into a standing position. Sasuke tried not to fall over, but it was really quite hard… and all of a sudden he was on Naruto's back, the blonde piggybacking him through the forest.

"Usuratonkachi… I can walk…" Sasuke practically moaned into Naruto's back, too tired to even lift his head up.

Naruto sighed. "Just trust me, alright?" he asked gently, looking over his shoulder to Sasuke. "…Sasuke?"

He was asleep.

Naruto blinked before smiling. He looked up at the light snow drifting from the ground and juggled Sasuke to pull his cloak off him and throw it back over the raven.

Naruto drew out more of the Kyuubi's chakra, being careful to keep the heat away from Sasuke and in a flash of fire he disappeared.

Heh heh, the plot isn't over yet!

RR&R!

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Join the dark side and be one with the person baking the cookies!


	23. Did I Miss It?

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Did I Really Miss It?

The sun was just rising over the tiny village, the mist sweeping off of the mountain and seeping into the streets between the crammed houses and buildings pressed up between the forest and the cliff overlooking the sea.

The early rising townspeople watched in almost awe as two people walked out of the forest and passed the tiny sign reading, "Welcome to Arano" because they had probably been the only people to walk past that sign and into the village in years.

"They're so young." One woman said in almost awe.

"And she's pregnant, do you think they ran away together?" another asked.

"I don't know, but look at how… how… they… **dead** they look."

It was a boy and a girl that couldn't have been any older than twenty. They wore simple farmer's clothes and had their heads bowed to the ground, making it very difficult to see their faces, the woman's especially, as she was wearing a scarf over her head so even the color of her hair was hidden.

The man's hair was sand brown and he was rather tall, well over six feet, probably closer to seven. The woman was a good eight months pregnant and was stuck so close to the man she almost looked like an attachment to him. The man only watched the ground as he walked except for the rare glance up where he glared at the people staring at them. The glare was so cold that anyone he looked at instantly looked away.

The man led the woman into the tiny inn by her hand, though it looked like she had a python grip on him, and walked up to the counter.

"You need a room for two?" the woman asked eagerly, ready to serve their first customer in three years.

The man nodded. "One with a kitchen."

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, we don't have room with kitchens, but breakfast is every day at eight, and—"

"It doesn't matter." The man cut her off.

"Oh, um, how long will you be staying?"

"We don't know yet."

"That's alright, here's your key, and it's the second door on the right—"

The woman's hand snapped out and the key was gone from the attendant's hand before she could blink, and the woman had disappeared up the stairs faster than the girl could even keep track of.

"Do you need down payment?" the man asked, jolting the woman out of her shock.

"Uh, no, we, uh, we just charge when you leave—"

The man nodded and followed the woman up the stairs so fast the attendant blinked and he was gone.

"…E…Enjoy your stay…"

Upstairs

The man walked through the door and locked it firmly behind him just as the girl took off her shawl, revealing long, wavy golden hair, a color to rival the sun and whiskered scars on her cheeks.

"Sheesh." she grumbled, and in a cloud of smoke a golden-haired boy was standing in her place in ANBU armor with red flames on the chest plate and now only six months pregnant. "The hardest part of that was without a doubt trying to make myself look more pregnant than I actually am. Jesus hell Kyuubi, protect the baby from other people, but not from me! That was hard enough as it was!" he paused again, listening to the fox's response before snapping, "Yeah, like I'm going to ask your cursed ass for chakra, you're the reason we got thrown out of Konoha **again**, I don't think so."

The man leaned heavily against the door and in a puff of smoke a much shorter raven-haired boy was standing—**leaning** in his place. He groaned and leaned his head back against the door as he slid to the ground, blood again seeping through his clothes and matching deep red patches all over the black armor and clothing, the chest plate that had a red and white fan on the back.

"Sasuke." Naruto was at his side in a second, holding him up. "Hell, they really got you good."

"It's the sleeping poison Dobe." The raven snapped, through he let the other lift him off the ground and carry him over to the counter.

"Too lazy to heal yourself?" the blonde joked, reaching to his belt and pulling out a large scroll.

"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke snapped, pushing himself into a sitting position against the wall.

"Yeah, yeah, just sit still for a second so I can get you bandaged up, and then you can sleep." Naruto undid the chest plate and took it off gently, laying it to he side before he pulled the raven's shirt over his head. He worked on the rest of Sasuke's clothing until Sasuke was only sitting in his boxers before starting to clean off the wounds.

_Just wait for it, it's coming soon._ Sasuke watched Naruto carefully, looking for any change as the blonde bandaged his wounds. Damn that ANBU and the sleeping drug.

Naruto was nearly done with the bandages before a large drop of water suddenly landed on Sasuke's thigh, and he looked up sharply to find Naruto's head bowed and his shoulders shaking.

_Here it is._ Sasuke winced and forced his arms to move. He reached up and cupped Naruto's cheeks in his hands, lifting Naruto's face so he could see the Dobe and wiping the two other tears from his tanned, scarred cheeks.

"Naruto." He whispered, pulling Naruto up into a kiss because he was positive that if he leaned forward he would end up **falling **forward and most likely headfirst off the counter and do another face plant into the ground.

"I hate the damn fuzz ball." Naruto whispered as Sasuke kissed tenderly around his face.

"The fox stopped you from living before?" Sasuke asked quietly around the kisses. "You've gone back to Konoha every other time, right?"

"Yeah, but it's different now!" Naruto barked, trying to pull away, but Sasuke held him tighter. "We can't exactly just show up in a year with an infant in our arms and go, "Hey, did you miss us?"

The mention of an infant in their arms made Sasuke's heart splutter, but he didn't stop the gentle touches to Naruto's face. "Sakura would love it. She'd probably ask when we were leaving next so she could baby-sit."

"I'm serious Sasuke!"

"So am I. The fox never stopped you from living before, and it sure as hell wont now. If we go back with a baby the council will be too mortified that the Kyuubi was somehow reborn through the baby to even touch us. The idiots only went after you now because they thought it would be less of a danger, I think they believed you when you said the Kyuubi had been resealed."

Naruto winced. "When did you figure out that it wasn't?"

"When it almost split your head in two that day when we were telling Sakura and the others."

Naruto winced again, remembering the fit the Kyuubi had thrown at the mention of the council. "Oh." He said after a moment.

"Not to mention you have half of Konoha on your side. The ANBU only attacked you because they'd been ordered to by the council." Sasuke had had his own experience with that, the only difference was that everyone but him had been killed. If Naruto had died… Sasuke could promise that in the least Konoha would no longer be standing.

Naruto nodded after a second and leaned his head into Sasuke's uninjured shoulder. Sasuke leaned his head back against the wall as he held Naruto close. It was amazing just how grown up and mature Naruto could be one second, and then so young the next.

_Grown up…_

Sasuke blinked as he suddenly realized that it was October 8th. Naruto would be turning nineteen in **two days**. He couldn't help but smirk. Tsunade would have a **cow** when she finds out about their running away again, because that meant that she would miss Naruto's birthday.

"You remember what day it is in two days?"

Naruto blinked before leaning back slowly, dried tear tracks staining his cheeks as he nodded solemnly. "And I'm sorry about yours, I didn't even—"

"We were S-class then. And if I'm remembering correctly, you were trying to ditch me every chance you could, along with making sure I wasn't going to kidnap you back to Akatsuki. It makes sense that you wouldn't remember."

"I could make a cake tomorrow—oh yeah, the whole hating-sweets thing." Naruto looked out the window to their right as he thought, and Sasuke winced. Sometimes he hated his taste buds. He hadn't even said anything and he'd just shot down Naruto's hopes of making it up to him. He didn't give a damn, but he knew the Dobe would.

Naruto huffed, running a hand through his hair. "It sucks that gardening is a strict no-no when you're on the run, I miss that and I could have just grown a bushel of tomatoes." Oh yeah, Naruto loved to garden. Sasuke had completely forgotten.

"It doesn't matter Dobe." Sasuke groaned and slid himself slowly off the counter, pushing Naruto towards the bed. "And right now the only thing I care about is sleeping this damn drug off."

Naruto laughed and moved out of the way so Sasuke could fall onto the bed, it would be crammed, the bed was only a double, but Sasuke didn't care as long as he could sleep.

"Sweet dreams." Naruto sang after Sasuke had collapsed on top of the covers.

"Shut up."

Naruto stood there for a second, watching Sasuke's calm breathing with a small smile on his face before he grabbed one of the extra blankets off the table and draped it over the raven's back, knowing that if he tried in any way to get Sasuke under the covers he was laying on, Sasuke would castrate him with a rusty shrimp fork.

He sighed and looked around, reaching for the scroll with the prenatal vitamins in it. And just what the hell was he supposed to do about Sasuke's birthday?

Next Day (Or So He Thinks)

Sasuke jolted awake suddenly as the sunlight blasted him in the face, and cracked a glued-shut eye to watch Naruto with loathing as he yanked open the curtains. They should've **stayed** shut dammit.

"Ok, three was alright, and I made myself wait through the fourth, but five is out of the question." Naruto huffed. "You're getting up now if I have to drag you out of bed by your prissy Uchiha ass."

Three…? What the hell was the Dobe talking about now? Sasuke groaned and turned his head away from the window, closing his eyes again.

"Ok, I get you were drugged, but four days is beyond even sleeping drugs. If you think I haven't noticed how you hate to get up, think again." Naruto grabbed the blanket Sasuke had fallen asleep on and yanked. **Hard**. He pulled the blanket right off the bed—Sasuke and all—sending the raven crashing to the floor, still in a half daze from sleeping.

"What the hell does five mean Dobe?" Sasuke ground out, forcing himself to his feet and trudging over to the sink where he splashed his face with the icy water. This place didn't even have moderate heating? Splendid.

"Days." Naruto rolled his eyes. "You know, the implement of time that is marked by one rotation of the earth? Where the sun rises and then sets—"

"I know what it means Usuratonkachi." Sasuke grumbled, reaching for the towel—the huge, obnoxious, pink polka-dotted towel with enough holes in it to mistake it for a sponge—and dried his face.

"That's how long you've been sleeping. I though you were dead half that time, you don't even fucking twitch in your sleep! What are you, a zombie?" Naruto flopped down on the bed, his arms out as he stared at the ceiling. "I haven't gone out yet, we need to do that at some point to get food, we're nearly out of wasabi and soy sauce."

"Five days?" Sasuke repeated, half stunned, staring at Naruto with water still dripping down his face.

"Yep." Naruto popped the p at the end.

"Days."

"Uh-huh."

"What's the date?"

"Today is the twelfth. Do the math, genius-Uchiha."

…He'd missed it. He'd missed Naruto's birthday.

God hated him.

Well the feeling was mutual.

"Don't worry." Naruto smiled widely, sitting up. "Don't get your panties in a knot, while you were asleep, I worked something out. A sort of combined birthday for both of us. You're invited." He grinned impishly. Suddenly, Sasuke felt a little nervous. Naruto added by Sasuke added by birthdays multiplied by his excitedness with an exponent of most likely some sort of food or more excitement could only equal nothing but trouble.

"Ok!" Naruto jumped up, clapping his hands. "I have things to do because I didn't want to leave you alone here, and I need to go out alone… could you go out and get the food?"

"…What—"

"Just little things, wasabi, soy sauce, rice, other things!" Naruto smiled happily before grabbing his ANBU cloak. "I'll be back soon."

"Naruto, hey!" Sasuke yelled as Naruto leapt backwards out of the window, literally disappearing in midair. Sasuke sighed and grabbed his own cloak, leaping out the window. He didn't have to pretend to be that dumb farmer again; he would just act as a ninja passing through. Damn it all, if he hadn't gotten slashed with that sleeping drug they wouldn't even need to be in this trash dump room right now!

Back in the room, Sasuke dumped the groceries all over the table, grabbing a tomato to munch on like an apple as he walked around the **tiny** room. And good lord it was tiny, whether it was for two people as it was supposed to be or not. One bedroom with only a double bed and about a foot of walk space between the bed and all the walls, making it impossible to fully open the door, a half a kitchenette with the table in it, and a half of a bathroom. The bathtub was about the size of an average wash pail and Sasuke had quickly decided that he would be taking showers and not baths.

The Dobe wasn't back yet, he determined, walking back to the table and pulling out one of the two chairs to sit in before he jolted to a stop, looking down on the seat. Sitting there was a half a tomato and a kunai. Sasuke picked up the kunai slowly, turning it over in his hand as he remembered the pomegranate Naruto had left for him in Suna to find him.

…This was what the Dobe worked up? A scavenger hunt for third graders? Sasuke rolled his eyes and slipped the kunai into his waist pouch as he tied his ANBU cloak on again and leapt out the window silently and completely undetected. He would try the weapons shop in town first.

Sasuke landed silently on top of the roof of the shop, watching the people walking past it. No one in this tiny town had any need for weapons. Eventually, convinced that nothing would come out of the shop, he slipped off the roof and walked quietly into the shop.

"Did you see a ninja come in here, with blonde short, spiky hair, or a black cloak?" Sasuke asked the man at the counter.

"No, we haven't had anyone in here since Christmas when my neighbor bought something for her brother. But can I interest **you** in anything?" he asked hopefully.

"…Yes." Sasuke said finally. There was one thing he needed to get before he continued.

_Where next?_ He slipped the small bag under his chest armor so it would be safe, making sure that there was no chance it would slip._ Where else would anyone find a weapon in this town?_ Sasuke looked around him, surveying the shops.

There were only four. The weapons shop, a clothing store, a grocery store that doubled as a market and a small diner.

Diner.

The half of a tomato, a salad, of course.

The bell dinged quietly as Sasuke pushed the door open. Of course there was no one but him and the staff in there, so a waitress eagerly and almost instantly was by his side showing him to a table, and then running off before even taking his order or what he wanted to drink. He didn't want anything, Naruto being gone for so long was almost painful, especially after everything that had happened to them. He just wanted to get this over with **fast**.

Out of nowhere, the waitress was standing by the table again with a huge and slightly suggestive smirk on her face as she set down a salad before walking away. Sasuke blinked at the half of a tomato on top before picking up his fork and digging through the greens. Damn Dobe probably had the whole town working with him. After a while, his fork hit something with a small clink and Sasuke reached in to pull the thing out.

Sasuke turned the tiny shadow shuriken over and over in his hand, before he caught the indent of a small engraving on one side. Sharingan emerging and making the waitress back away uneasily a few steps, Sasuke traced the lines of a small tree carved into the shuriken with his eyes. It looked like a pine tree, but it was hard to tell because there was only so much room for detail. Sasuke grabbed a black crayon that the diner had for children that came in out of the cup and sketched the tree onto his napkin, waving the waitress over when he was done.

She took one look at the drawing before pointing out a window to their left. "It's right up on top of that hill." Sasuke nodded and turned for the door when she suddenly added, "but you might have to wait for a little bit."

Sasuke paused, nodding again before vanishing on the spot.

"Those two might just be the best customers we've had in ages." The waitress said to the cook. "Between them they ordered a salad, that's more business than we've had all month!"

Sasuke stepped up to the trunk of the giant pine tree, looking up to the top. _Might have to wait?_ Sasuke leapt easily to the top of the tree and sat down on one of the branches, looking out over the town. It was a shadow shuriken, then did the next clue have something to do with the tree's shadow? The sun was already fairly low in the sky, and Sasuke almost started in the direction the top of the oak was pointing, but decided against it. He'd been told to wait for a reason, so that's what he would do.

Sasuke sighed again, looking around him for something that he was maybe missing in the shadow, a missing branch that spelled a letter or an arrow or something. Was it physically impossible for Naruto to do **anything** simple?

Sasuke looked back down at the shadow before looking back to the sunset, his eyes snapping back to the shadow as he saw something he'd missed before. The tip of the shadow of the pine tree was very nearly touching the tip of the church tower, and though it wasn't exactly touching… he could estimate fairly closely to where they would meet.

Sasuke leapt easily out of the tree, landing on the spot where they would have met and looking around. There was nothing. But… if the shadows met together, creating the tip of a triangle, with the trees as the other two vertices, Sasuke could draw an imaginary line from the middle of the line between the trees, going through the point the shadow made, and it would point him towards the forest. Sasuke shot off in an instant, heading straight on that line into the trees.

He leapt through the forest keeping his cloak tight around him as he ran, skidding to a stop when something glinted in a tree. Another kunai. It was tied to the bark so it was pointing to the right. Sasuke pulled it out of the tree, turning to the right and shot off running again. It was a maze of kunai, and Sasuke's waist pouch was getting heavier by the second, by now he had at least twelve extra kunai in his bag when he finally burst out of the forest. Night had nearly fallen, how long did the Dobe expect him to do this?

_It doesn't matter._ Sasuke grumbled to himself, looking around for the next clue. _Dobe probably didn't think about the time factor, but I still have to find him, no matter how long it takes or he'll get himself kidnapped again. Usuratonkachi._ Sasuke snapped to himself, looking toward where the last kunai had pointed. There was nothing but flat grasslands as far as he could see. No writing in the grass, no mounds of dirt with messages in them, nothing.

Sasuke turned around, about to retrace his steps when something on one of the trees caught his eye. Written in the moss and lichen where the words, "a blessing in disguise" and a small cloth was tacked to the tree beneath it. Sasuke reached out and pulled the cloth off the tree, examining it. One half was pink, and one half was blue—a baby. The baby was a blessing, and under Naruto's disguise—of course.

Sasuke smacked his hand over his eyes as he started running back through the trees. Only the number one loudest, unpredictable, hyperactive knuckle headed ninja would make Sasuke spend the day running all over the goddamn village and all of its outskirts to then just call him back to the room at the inn.

Sasuke landed on the windowsill, looking into the room to see Naruto sitting on the bed wrapped in a blanket, smiling up at him innocently.

"Did you have a nice trip?"

"Dobe." Sasuke growled, stepping down into the room.

Sasuke moved over to the bed and sat down with his legs crossed, his knee's touching Naruto's through the blanket. He reached behind him and pulled out something from his belt wrapped in cloth that he placed in Naruto's hands.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, pulling back the cloth. Sasuke felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips when Naruto's jaw when through the bed to hit the floor.

Naruto held up the Ninjato and then picked up the scabbard, sliding the sword into its sheath and staring at the two. The hilt of the Ninjato had a tiny, jeweled fox on it with hessonite garnet for its fur, a diamond under belly and ruby eyes. The sheath was decorated similarly, with a tiny emerald snake with ruby eyes wrapping around the top where the hand guard met the scabbard.

"Thanks Teme." Naruto smiled, laying the sword off to the side. Sasuke's brow furrowed as Naruto took care to keep the blanket around him.

Naruto took a deep breath, smiling louder if possible. "I didn't have the time to get you something, and I kind of didn't know what you wanted because you never answered me when I asked—"

"Dobe, I didn't want anything—"

"—so, I decided to… dress up a bit."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow as Naruto stood up and hopped off the bed, walking over to the table with the blanket still firmly around him. Sasuke could almost see the question marks floating around his head when Naruto picked up some sort of lacy headband and slid it into his golden hair. He whirled suddenly to face Sasuke and dropped the blanket.

Sasuke nearly died of a heart attack. Naruto was standing in front of him, wearing an orange, off the shoulders, lacey, French maid outfit, complete with little white apron and a corset on the back that Naruto displayed as he turned.

It all made sense now, it wasn't Naruto added by Sasuke added by birthdays multiplied by his excitedness with an exponent of most likely some sort of food or more excitement equaling trouble. It was Naruto added by maid outfit added by extreme sexiness multiplied by both of their birthdays with an exponent of Naruto practically begging Sasuke to fuck him with that smile that equaled a seriously horny Uchiha that could **not** stop staring.

"What do you think Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke literally heard his self-control snap at that sentence.

Heh heh, happy birthday Sasuke and Naruto (it's not really, but whatever)!

And for those of you who celebrate Christmas, Merry Eve of Christmas Eve!

Have a holiday sugar cookie and RR&R! (Read Rate and Review!)

Scale of one to ten thingy too if you please.


	24. Your Time Is Up

I don't own anything but my ideas.

WARNING! POMEGRANATE!

AGAIN!

…Seriously though, if I still have to warn you guys about lemon… you should **not** be reading this story.

Your Time Is Up

Day 8

If Sasuke was paid, had taken years and years of courses at one of the top school in the world, and had studied as an intern for another decade or two, he would still—for the life of him—not under stand Naruto.

Which was exactly why he found himself sitting across from Naruto in his sexy-no-jutsu form that night at the restaurant that Naruto had sent him to on the wild goose chase only a few days earlier.

Why? Don't ask. He still needed another four years of interning to answer why, and he would then need another eight years of classes to **explain** the why.

Naruto's golden hair was tied up in two pigtails on the side of her head and she had opted to leave the scarf off this time. When she'd set up the idiotic scavenger hunt a few days ago she'd apparently gone out as a girl to keep up a little aspect of their "secrecy" here. Apparently she'd also signed out as the farmer's wife (under the disguise of the scarf) and signed back in as a ninja (female of course) while Sasuke was sleeping to make their leaving easier. Also, as Naruto had said, the people might just get a little freaked by a pregnant guy and his boyfriend. Sasuke couldn't disagree with him there.

Sasuke picked at his rice a grain at a time, pleading that Naruto would be done talking to the waitress in the next thousand or so years so they could **get the hell out of there**.

He had to refrain **very** hard from groaning when Naruto ordered another bowl of wasabi and soy sauce. For some odd reason, the waitress didn't seem too perturbed by this.

Naruto looked over, rolled her eyes and promptly smacked Sasuke, making him jolt.

"We're the only customers they'll have in a while. It won't hurt to eat our fill." She smirked, rubbing the pregnant bump keeping her a good distance from the table. Sasuke just took a deep breath through his nose and kept eating his rice a grain at a time.

Later

Sasuke had to admit, the moon was very pretty, lighting up the cliff and the sea below it with a blue glow. But so was Naruto. Sasuke had already snarled at three men from the village like a rabid animal protecting his mate, who was too dense to even notice them as she jumped happily along the side of the cliff. Sasuke knew she would never fall, but he could help the twinge in his chest every time she did leap into the air to see out into the ocean, remembering how the Kyuubi had sent Naruto tipping back into the lake so many months ago when he was asleep.

Naruto came bounding out of nowhere and smashed into Sasuke's torso, burying her face in chest. She pulled the scarf down off of Sasuke's face and he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. It felt so different, exhilarating, doing this where he could actually show that Naruto was his. It was too dangerous because of the council to do this when they were in Konoha, the ANBU would have swarmed on them like cockroaches.

Naruto pulled back again, flashing him a huge grin before she leaped to the side of the cliff again and Sasuke readjusted the cloth to cover the lower part of his face.

"It's so big! You can see **everything**!" Naruto squealed, leaning out as far as she could, her smile brighter than the moon making her glow in it's light. "Sasuke! Sasuke look!" she pointed frantically to a boat and its flashing lights out on the horizon.

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. He'd forgotten how Naruto had grown up; fending for himself, so he'd had no time and no one to show him what most people considered a given in the world. The smallest, most trivial things were like stars to her.

Sasuke blinked as she suddenly yanked her hair out of its pigtails and shook her hair out, letting it fall over her shoulders.

"Naruto, what are you…?" Sasuke could only watch as Naruto stripped out of her ANBU armor and down to her underclothes, and then before Sasuke could react she had taken a flying leap off of the cliff, plummeting down to the water a thousand feet below.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shot forward, yanking the scarf off his face as she sunk into the water with a barely audible splash. He groaned, scrambling to rip off his armor and get to Naruto as fast as possible. The damn Dobe just didn't seem to get how much danger she was in when she was alone. She could hold her own, fine, but if her chakra fizzled out again for some reason…

Sasuke had barely kicked his shoes off before flinging himself off the edge, just regaining his balance enough to dive into the water so he didn't hit in a belly flop and activate the Sharingan. He choked on the air in his lungs as the red, glowing eyes spotted Naruto a good hundred feet below the surface, her eyes closed, just floating there.

_Did she hit the water wrong and knock herself out?_ Sasuke shot forward with one powerful kick, grabbed Naruto's arm and yanked them both up, spluttering and cursing as waves kept hitting him in the face and trying to get in his airways.

The second his feet hit the ground, his head barely above the water, he paused, looking to Naruto as he felt her start to quiver.

…

He was going to kill the Dobe.

She was leaning back limply in his arms, trying and failing miserably not to giggle.

"Naruto…" Sasuke snarled, spitting more salt water from his mouth. She flipped back up, giggling more as she latched onto his neck and bit down gently on the tip of his nose. He spluttered again, about to drop her when he noticed her throwing something toward the shore at the same time that he noticed his gloves were gone. He blinked into her cloudy eyes as she worked her fingers under the back of his shirt and slowly pulled it up and over his head, throwing that to join his gloves on the beach.

He didn't waste any time meeting their lips when she leaned forward and slowly slid his hand up into her shirt. A part of him—not that he would ever admit it—was a little nervous to do this with a girl, but as Naruto broke apart to pull her own shirt over her head and his dark eyes met her glowing blue ones, he knew it would be fine.

Huh. He wondered what his family would have thought if they knew he was gay. But Naruto was Naruto, whether in a girl's body or not. It wouldn't be a problem.

Sasuke sloshed forward through the water and the wet sand in his toes and set Naruto on a mossy boulder in the water as she wriggled out of her pants, beckoning him closer with a kiss. He slid in between her legs and she wrapped her thighs around his back, and then as he leaned in to kiss her again, he could see clearly that she was just about as nervous as him.

"Do… uh, do you think this will hurt? Because of the salt." She covered quickly, ducking her eyes.

That's right. She was a virgin as a girl.

"I'll stop." Sasuke assured her, ducking in to nervously flick an engorged nipple, bigger than Naruto's when he was a guy. Did that mean she would be able to breastfeed the baby when she was using the sexy-no-jutsu form?

Sasuke's eyes snapped up as Naruto moaned hugely, her head dropping back. He knew literally **nothing** about female sensitivity, so… trial and error was going to have to do it. Sasuke's tongue darted out again, swirling around the darker skin and Naruto gasped, writhing under the touch, her legs squeezing together as he took it in his mouth and sucked on the sensitive skin. Sasuke quickly moved to the other, making Naruto gasp and arch her back under his ministrations.

He lifted one finger and placed it on the inside of her thigh, drawing it in slowly. He met Naruto's nervous eyes and leaned in, placing his lips carefully against hers as he ran his finger over her slit, his eyes popping at how **wet** it was. She watched as his fingers explored her carefully, and he froze when she suddenly shrieked, tensing up under him.

Sasuke took her labored breath as a good sign and smirked, pushing his finger over the tiny nub and drawing out the same response. The harder and faster he rubbed, the louder her screams became and the more he had to hold her down to keep her from thrashing right off the rock.

"Sasuke! Oh god! **S-Sasuke**!" she grabbed his shoulders and yanked him up into a kiss, gasping as she ran her tongue over his lip. "Put it in. right now, put it in."

When Sasuke's fingers couldn't react fast enough, she hooked her toes in his belt and the hem of his pants and with a small grunt yanked them down past his hips, tearing the belt open as she did.

Sasuke swallowed, making sure that Naruto didn't see it, and slowly pushed into Naruto's slit. Almost immediately Naruto winced, but as Sasuke moved slower she moaned, going limp in his arms. She felt amazing, just like he did as a guy.

Sasuke pulled back and pushed in experimentally, making Naruto groan his name again and his manhood throb, almost making him dizzy with all the blood rushing south. Thank god Naruto squeezed her legs tighter around his waist, signaling him to go faster, because he was losing his sanity at the slow pace.

Her screams were intoxicating. Honestly, not as much as when Naruto was a guy, but Naruto's voice always managed so make his spine quake no matter how far along into sex they were. He was groaning, pounding into her like a jackhammer with the water lapping against the rock and around his knees. Suddenly, he didn't care if anyone from the town was watching. Naruto was his and his alone.

Naruto gasped out his name, making Sasuke grunt unevenly, about to lose it. Naruto gripped his back tighter, and in a puff of smoke he was encased in Naruto's male side and Naruto's male lips were smashed roughly against his.

The familiar muscles clenching around him was enough to make him see white, and then Naruto groaned, his head rolling back as they both released.

They sat there on the cool rock, panting for a moment before Naruto laughed breathlessly and pulled his head back up to press their foreheads together, the smile prominent on his face.

Day 14

Sasuke jolted awake, shooting up in bed to stare into Naruto's terrified eyes as the jinchuuriki clawed for air.

"Naruto! Hey!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shoulders, shaking him gently to try and pull him out of this daze. "What is it? What's wrong—"

Sasuke oofed as Naruto hurled himself into the raven's chest, throwing them both backwards off the bed.

"Damn it."

Sasuke's eyes went wide at the clear growl in Naruto's voice.

"Damn it! If I'd gotten there sooner…!"

"…Where Dobe?" Then it clicked. "…It was a dream, wasn't it?"

Naruto nodded, a steady growl still rolling off of his throat as he nuzzled Sasuke harshly with his nose.

Naruto's tongue ran roughly across Sasuke's neck, making him shiver, when Naruto yanked back suddenly, shaking his head in disgust.

"I can taste him." Naruto growled.

"…Who?" Sasuke asked warily. Naruto was **seriously dangerous** when he was like this, even to people he cared for. Sakura had taken that blunt danger head on once, and Sasuke was still amazed that she was fine to go near Naruto.

Naruto growled in answer and dove back into Sasuke's neck, licking every inch of showing skin.

"Dobe—hey!" Sasuke spluttered and Naruto's tongue dragged across his cheek and eye. "Who? What the hell did you dream?"

"I wont let him take you again." Naruto snarled, staring Sasuke in the eye with his blood red eyes.

_Orochimaru._ Sasuke sucked in a deep breath and lifted his arm warily, running his fingers over Naruto's cheek when Naruto didn't do anything to stop him. "I promised Dobe. I'm not leaving."

Naruto leaned forward, pulling away from Sasuke's hand to push down Sasuke's shirt neck with his nose and taste his chest. He yanked back and again and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the taste.

"He touched you." Naruto snarled.

Sasuke tried to move up to calm Naruto down when two clawed hands slammed against his shoulders, throwing him back and pinning him to the rough floor as Naruto continued to lick him clean.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke gasped as he heard his shirt tear down the middle and Naruto's mouth slammed against his chest, licking and sucking his skin.

_It's to get Orochimaru's taste off; he's cleaning me._ Sasuke realized, laying his head back, waiting until Naruto was done. Every second, even with the tiniest of Naruto's movements, he looked more and more like a fox. It made Sasuke sick.

Naruto pulled back after a moment, his eyes blue again, though the slit pupils were very noticeable even in the dark. Sasuke reached up and pulled Naruto against his chest, hugging the blonde tightly.

"You're mine. Not his. Not ever. I wont let him take you again." Naruto whispered into his chest, nuzzling Sasuke again, much more gently this time.

"Only if you promise the Kyuubi wont take you."

Sasuke's brow furrowed and his spine went rigid as Naruto hesitated, but the blonde nodded after a moment.

_He wasn't sure._ Sasuke thought in disgust, holding Naruto tighter. He forced himself to close his eyes and relax, telling himself that it was ok as long as Naruto was with him. "And you owe me a new shirt Dobe."

"Shut up."

Day 27

"We can't stay here forever."

"And we sure as hell can go back if the council is going to try and have me killed again!"

"Naruto, the Kyuubi will protect you even if it has to destroy the rest of humanity to do so!"

"And who's protecting you, huh?"

Sasuke groaned, running his hands vigorously through his hair. "Dobe! Will you just listen? This birth wont be normal! You'll have to have a C-section and frankly I don't think me slicing you open will do much good! Tsunade needs to do it! You're already seven months along and you probably wont go full term!"

"Well gosh darn it!" Naruto snapped his fingers sarcastically. "If only Tsunade wasn't Hokage of the village trying to kill me, then this whole thing would be that much easier!"

"We at least need to get out of this damn village! Why the hell did you make friends with those people anyways? What good will it do?"

"They know we're ninjas!" Naruto barked. "It would be kind of hard not to notice, Teme!"

"What they don't know is that you have a demon inside of you! I wonder how that relationship will change when they find out." Sasuke snarled, slamming his hands down on the table.

And then he realized what he'd said.

_**Shit**__. Stupid, stupid, stupid, __**stupid**__._ He turned warily, watching Naruto's every movement, but he wasn't even sure that the blonde was breathing. _**Idiot**__. I can't __**believe**__ I said that._

Naruto was facing the window, his arms crossed tightly, the moon silhouetting his sleek frame. Well, sleek except for the obvious seven-and-a-half-month bump in his middle.

"Well," he said finally, his voice cool, "I'm glad to know you think that way too, along with the rest of the council and the people who have tried to kill me for the fox. Maybe the royal Uchiha family really is as holier-than-thou as they act. I thought people were just being rude and jealous, but hey, I've been proven wrong before." He said cheerfully, a stiff smile on his face.

"Naru—"

"You know what? Whatever." Naruto snapped and grabbed the blanket, stomping out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where a couch was crammed against the far wall in the last tiny bit of open space.

Sasuke mentally kicked himself—repeatedly—before stepping slowly out of the bedroom. Naruto had already settled himself on the couch, though it didn't look like it had been easy. His stomach was nearly pushing him off onto the floor.

"Don't even think about it." Naruto snapped as Sasuke took one step toward him. "I can barely fit myself on here, and I can't promise I wont hit you if you come any closer."

Sasuke sighed and walked around to the side of the couch, climbing up onto the top of the back and lying down parallel to Naruto. He could feel the blonde's blue eyes glaring up at him, but his eyes didn't leave the ceiling.

"I have my reasons."

"For what?" Naruto spat. "Being an ass? What's new?"

"This is the fox's chakra Dobe, who knows how it could hurt you if this goes on too long." Sasuke refrained from groaning. "We can't even see if the baby is fine, or if you're fine because the fox was hiding everything with his chakra."

Sasuke let his hand slide off his stomach slowly and fall down to touch Naruto's arm gently. He felt Naruto twitch away at first, but then the hot hand wrapped around his fingers, squeezing them.

"And what do you suggest?" Naruto said smartly. "Should we kidnap Granny and force her to hang around before it's finally time for her to cut me open?"

"Do you think Gaara would be able to stand me any more?"

Naruto didn't move, and then eventually he shrugged. "Probably not, he hates you so much it's funny, but he might agree to it if I ask him and if you don't cause any trouble."

"Dobe!" Sasuke shot up, glaring down at Naruto's tired expression. "You're the one who—!"

"See?" Naruto said around a yawn. "If you're that loud he'll break your arms in a second, and then laugh at you for being an idiot."

Sasuke ground his teeth as he watched Naruto drift slowly asleep, and then he flopped roughly back down on the top of the couch. What he did for the Dobe… he ground his teeth again. Whatever, it wouldn't even be for a full month because Naruto probably wouldn't go past eight months for his pregnancy.

Sasuke sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. What he meant was that he was **hoping** for him not to go full term. He was getting paranoid.

One Week Later

Sasuke smirked as he stared up at the ceiling, his bare chest loving the breeze from the window, or, hole in the wall of sand.

_Flashback_

_Gaara was going to murder him. His face was that freaky and funny at the same time. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he'd looked so pissed off or strained._

_Gaara was going to pop a blood vessel; that much was certain. Sasuke just hoped it didn't lead to the Kazekage losing control to the sand demon newly inside of him again. The villagers were already iffy about the Shukaku, they didn't need any reason to try and prove that there was a danger._

"_Gaara?" Naruto asked uneasily._

_Gaara almost lost it, and then very slowly he started to regain control. He sucked in a deep breath (more like forced himself to breathe) and nodded._

"_Fine. You… __**both**__ can stay." _

_His voice was deathly._

_End Flashback_

Sasuke already knew the terms of him staying there: be inexistent, but Gaara wasted no time in stating it again and throwing in no less than eight death threats. He knew Naruto wasn't the problem, he was, so Naruto could be around, Sasuke just literally had to disappear when ever Gaara was within three miles of him.

Sasuke's brow furrowed and his eyes snapped to the right where Naruto was sleeping. The blonde had started tossing and turning in his sleep, but that wasn't what attracted Sasuke's attention, and it wasn't even the sweat pouring off Naruto's body, it was the heat radiating off Naruto's skin. His normal temperature was 112 degrees, but now he had shot well over 120 degrees.

Sasuke pushed himself up on his elbows and reached out, yanking back the second he touch Naruto and cradling his scalded fingers.

Naruto groaned again and sat up in bed, throwing the covers as far away from him as he could.

"I'm hot." He breathed absently over his shoulder in Sasuke's general direction, except for he was off by about five feet. Sasuke was behind him, not next to him. "I'm just… going to get some… air…"

Sasuke watched warily as Naruto practically fell out of bed and stumbled to the window. He was sure Naruto wouldn't be able to pull off the jump, but somehow Naruto got his coordination together enough to hop gracefully onto the windowsill and jump out.

…_Naruto's __**hot**__? His regular body temp is 112… what the hell is Kyuubi doing?_

Sasuke scrambled out from under the covers and dashed to the window, looking out. Naruto was standing as relaxed as if he were asleep, staring blankly up at the moon in the otherwise black sky.

Sasuke jumped out quickly and walked up as close as he dared to Naruto without being cooked alive. The sand was literally melting into glass within a ten-foot radius around Naruto and Naruto's clothes were starting to singe.

"Usuratonkachi?"

Naruto's head slowly tipped from looking at the moon to the ground, but he didn't move otherwise. What was going on?

"Naruto." Sasuke said a little louder, taking another small step forward as Naruto's temperature started to drop.

Naruto groaned, shaking slightly as his hands came up to clutch at the sides of his head. Sasuke shot forward, but didn't dare touch the jinchuuriki; he liked his hands.

"Naruto!"

Naruto shuddered again, and pried his eyes open to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke bit into his lip. Red. Naruto's eyes were blood red.

His hands leapt up to shield his face as the temperature around Naruto went through the roof and literally blasted him back, Naruto's clothes starting to catch fire and the sand around his feet already melted into glass.

Naruto screamed and dropped onto his knees, tearing at the sides of his face as his body rocked dangerously with spasms and his chakra spluttered out of control, like lightning. Tears and sweat poured down his face and body, his skin darkening.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, trying to force his body through the heat waves to the frail blonde. The flaming wind was so intense he could barely take one step forward, and the air itself was scorching his skin.

"Get… away…" Naruto forced out, and all at once he threw his head back and screamed loud enough to shatter Sasuke's ears, before his chakra disappeared back into his body like it had never broken free and Naruto fell forward onto his front, unconscious.

"Naruto!" Sasuke lunged forward and heaved the blonde into his arms. He wasn't breathing. Sasuke panicked and jammed two fingers under Naruto's jawbone.

No pulse.

Sasuke snarled at the people trying to get closer to them, all murmuring about what had happened, and yanked his hand back, pounding his fist into Naruto's chest so hard he heard two of Naruto's ribs snap. He paused, waiting for anything, and Naruto's chest spasmed, trying to suck in a pathetic breath before he went limp again.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's chin and forced his mouth open and his head back, dipping his head to press his lips to Naruto's when a blazing hand shot up and smashed over his eyes, grabbing him by his temples and forcing his head back until he heard his neck pop.

"W-What…?" he gasped, trying to look down. "Naruto?"

"_**Do not touch me, Uchiha."**_ The dark, sinister voice spat his name like it was venom, saturated with revulsion.

People screamed, scrambling backwards as Naruto's body heat skyrocketed, scorching Sasuke's skin.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, his eyes snapping to the side when another deafening explosion sounded through Suna and the Hokage's tower erupted, a twisted, swirling mass of chakra bubbling up, Shukaku's laugher echoing around the desert.

"_**Freedom!"**_ it screeched. _**"No one can hold me back! No one! AHAHAHAHAHA!"**_

_What the hell is going on? What's happening?_

Sasuke froze as the dark voice coming from Naruto's mouth laughed, low and sinister, and he gasped as claws ripping out of Naruto's skin began to cut into his flesh.

"_**And so it has begun."**_ Naruto's shoulders shook with silent laugher, the already tan skin darkening beyond comprehension and his hair spiking back with the force of the chakra radiating out of him. Sasuke gasped, yelling out in pain as the Kyuubi sunk his claws into his shoulder and almost ripped his arm out of his socket hurling him away as the demon pushed himself to his feet.

"_**Pathetic humans. Don't worry, it will all be over soon for what you have done to me."**_

It clicked. Sasuke knew instantly what was happening. "…It was all just a trap? It was a game right from the beginning?" he spat in disbelief, scrambling up off the ground.

"_**I was actually surprised that the genius Uchiha heir didn't figure it out, what with how close you are to the kit, but yes, everything was set up accordingly for what I needed. The merging, the running away, the horrible control over his chakra that wouldn't even let him create a decent clone that wouldn't melt in three minutes, making you chase him, the capture by the ANBU… I even helped the snake man to find him."**_ the Kyuubi smiled excitedly, fangs ripping out of Naruto's mouth and cutting into his bottom lip. It was so hot around him that his clothes were on fire.

"**What**?" Sasuke snarled.

"_**I purposefully waited to help the kit that long so that he would be even more furious and frantic when he saw you. Did you actually think I would have let the ANBU of that pathetic village capture him if I hadn't wanted it? You dying during the battle with the snake man would have been an added plus, or even the time when I created the storm that scared the shit out of the kit and I took over his body, but it seems I wasn't so lucky."**_

"You created that storm?"

"_**Use your brain Uchiha, if your human ego hasn't taken up all the space in your head. Storms are created by a swirling mass of cold and hot air, the latter which I supplied beautifully."**_

"But then the entire point of that battle—"

"_**Yes, it was to get a complete look into your mind, or more specifically, at your Sharingan. Orochimaru had already known your mind well enough during the training you spent with him, but as for me, I had only glimpses of it."**_

_The attack. _Sasuke gritted his teeth, remembering all too clearly the razor sharp, white-hot fire claws raking through his chest. That was all the Kyuubi needed to see into his soul, it was enough. _That was why he attacked my mind. It wasn't luck that I got into his mind the second time to go wake Naruto up, and the fox was going to let him wake up. He just needed to see into me for those few seconds. _

"Why did you need that?" he snarled.

The Kyuubi laughed again, hunched over with anticipation for something. _**I needed that to be able to complete the jutsu I stole from Orochimaru. When the snake man captured the kit, and you giving yourself up forced the kit into insanity, I used the opportunity to invade his chakra and steal something he had developed to seal your Sharingan away so that he could steal your body when the time came.**_

Sasuke's breath hitched and his eyes went wide.

"_**I must thank you for giving my kits the Sharingan, and thank the Hyuuga for giving Shukaku's kits the Byakugan when you next see him, their powers will be unlimited for it."**_ (Note: baby raccoons are actually called kits, I was surprised too. I would have thought they'd be called pups or something)

"Then the pregnancy was also…?"

The Kyuubi nodded. _**"Every time the kit felt he could not save himself because of his chakra, you came to his rescue like a valiant prince, and then you put the icing on the cake for me by telling him that you wanted him to have your son. How sweet, but every time something like that happened, the kit let his guard down little by little, until he was as vulnerable as an infant bird that had just hatched. He didn't even notice when I was using his chakra, or creating thunderstorms right under his nose so his chakra would implode in on itself. Now if you will excuse me, I have the world to rearrange."**_

Sasuke gasped, stumbling back and lunging for his sword when out of nowhere the Kyuubi had disappeared into thin air, and five razor-sharp claws impaled his back. Sasuke screamed at the heat, the pain almost unbearable as the heat ate away at his skin, flesh and bone and the Kyuubi's voice chanted in his mind.

_**Earth, Fire, Wind and Water, bind together to form the daughter,**_

_**Of death and misery itself, of pain and hurt and suffering's wealth,**_

_**Seal away what has been given, of what is mind and body driven,**_

_**Force into the depths of ageless, and seal the power in the darkness.**_

_**It's all over Uchiha. Your time is up."**_ the Kyuubi hissed over his shoulder, a blazing tongue running over his neck.

Sasuke could feel the overpowering chakra forcing itself into him, burning through his body and surrounding the Sharingan, smothering it and forcing it into the darkness until he couldn't feel his family's heirloom anymore, as if it never existed.

And then everything went black. 

LE GASP! Could I be any crueler?

Read, Rate and Review!

Sorry for the mean ending to this chapter!

Click the next chapter to see Sasuke die! MWAHAHA!

Jk, but click for the next chapter to see what happens! Happy reading!


	25. Dreams Over Reality

I don't own anything but my ideas.

**WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!**

**WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!**

**RAPE! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT HANDLE THIS WELL!**

Dreams Over Reality

Sasuke groaned, pleading for it not to be true as he searched his mind for anything, **anything**.

…

There was nothing. His Sharingan was gone. Completely sealed away. Sasuke felt his breath choke in his throat at the realization as he forced his eyes open. It was gone.

**Gone**.

_Naruto…_

Sasuke pushed himself up on his elbows, looking around.

_Where the hell am I?_

The walls were blood red and the air waved in front of Sasuke with the heat radiating off of every surface. It was a hallway from an ancient palace, with paper sliding doors, Japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, walls and ceiling with wood patterns carved into them and paintings that must have taken years to complete, all of which were miraculously not on fire. The entire area glowed with red heat.

Sasuke winced and reached up carefully, running his hand over the bite marks on his neck where Kyuubi had licked him and reopened the wound so it was oozing and even hotter than the room. Sasuke would never get used to the sickening heat, no matter how many times the seal reopened or worked to negate anything else trying to place its mark on him. It was too hot to ever ignore or become accustomed to.

Sasuke stood shakily. He felt blind without his Sharingan, the core of his chakra. It was like he was naked. And on top of everything, it was getting hotter.

Sasuke ran the back of his hand across his forehead to wipe away the dripping sweat, turning slowly to the source of the heat. He gasped loudly, his breath catching painfully in his throat, and launched himself back at the lava pooling at his heels, scrambling back when he landed wrong and fell to the floor as the molten, glowing heat clawed its way after him, incinerating the walls and floor as it came. Sasuke dug his nails into the floor, shoved himself to his feet and ran with everything he had away from the swirling lava, it was following him like it was alive and it wanted to taste his flesh and blood.

He was dizzy with the heat, weaving through the endless maze of hallways, skidding to a halt and running another direction when he turned a corner and almost ran straight into the lava. It bubbled up and lunged for him when he got too close, and his shirt was burning away slowly from the lingering heat of where it had touched him.

He cried out in shock and pain as it bit at his heels, and wrenched himself around another corner, his legs starting to wobble with fatigue and heat, and he slammed straight into Naruto's chest.

Sasuke felt his heart leap out of his throat, about to drag the blonde into a crushing hug that would shatter his spine and cripple him when a clawed hand clamped around his chin, forcing him to look into the blood red, dangerous, laughing eyes of the Kyuubi.

Naruto's hair was spiked back, the stunning yellow glowing almost red with the aura of the air in this place. His eyes were as red as the heat of the lava and his fangs were long enough to cut into his bottom lip, where a small drop of blood trailing down his chin. His skin was much darker to accommodate his internal temperature, his ears were pointed, and his scars were as black as ink. He was wearing a no shirt, showing off Naruto's ripped chest and his pants looked like they were made of some sort of cloth woven from fox fur to survive the heat, but what scared Sasuke the most were the nine, spiked fox tails swishing impatiently behind Naruto's body.

Sasuke's instincts were screaming for him to run as the lava swirled up and crashed around him but he couldn't move. He was paralyzed, from the Kyuubi's chakra or his own fear he didn't know, but he couldn't move as the lava swirled over his feet, before it rose above his ankles and soon over his knees, and was stunned to still feel that his legs were intact. He could feel the heat, but nothing like he had expected lava to burn.

_The Kyuubi. This palace is his playing field._ He realized. It was keeping him from burning alive. _But if he wanted me to… I'd ignite in less than a second._

The Kyuubi's dark laugh pounded against Sasuke's temples, making his eyes spin and his knees shake again. There was so much pain; he could feel it eating away at his every cell. The heat, the dark chakra, the—

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut as the Kyuubi shoved him back into the burning wall behind him and pressed Naruto's blazing body against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke couldn't force himself to breathe as the Kyuubi ran his free clawed hand up Sasuke's arm slowly and dipped in to bite at Sasuke's cheek with twin fangs, drawing blood and then licking it slowly, the dark, sick smile never wavering on his face.

This time it was going to happen.

The Kyuubi was actually going to rape him.

Naruto wasn't around to stop him, to take control, or be in the way, and Sasuke was sure after nineteen years of imprisonment the fox would be as horny as Naruto had been the first time Sasuke had bottomed. The pain would be the same, along with the heat, but this time the Kyuubi would be completely in control. Sasuke whimpered again, his legs squeezing themselves together involuntarily, making the Kyuubi laugh loudly and lick his cheek again to clean the blood away, the clawed hand moving from his arm to his waist to continue the slow caressing. He would die. The heat and pain together would be unbearable.

"_**You actually want to waste your time on human trash?"**_

Sasuke's eyes snapped open as the Kyuubi pulled away and looked back over his shoulder. It was the Shukaku, Gaara's bold blue eyes a terrifying shade of glowing gold, every one of his teeth slightly pointed, his nails sharpened into claws, flecks of tan and brown in his hair and small purple markings scattered on his skin as he stood at the end of the hallway, his stance obviously bored.

"_**I can't resist the sight of blood on something pathetic and helpless."**_ The Kyuubi purred, turning back to Sasuke to draw a clawed thumb under Sasuke's eye, making him wince as he slit through the skin and blood dripped down his face. _**"And it's very rare, fun and… **_**exhilarating**_** to find an Uchiha in such a delicious state. I can see how the kit could find you beautiful, I just think you need a little more blood decorating your pale skin."**_ Sasuke's breath hitched and he arched his spine as the hand on his chin drifted away to draw five claws down his spine, cutting through the skin.

Sasuke yelled out in pain, his hands snapping up to the Kyuubi's chest to push him away as two scorching fangs sunk deep into his upper arm and blood leaked through his shirt, staining it red.

"_**Suit yourself."**_ The Shukaku shrugged, turning to leave. Sasuke wanted to scream for him to stop, to help him, to pull this monster off of him, but he knew doing it would only make Shukaku join in the 'fun'.

"_**Was the Hyuuga a good fuck?"**_ the Kyuubi asked, looking back as the Shukaku turned away.

"_**You're kit's fucked the Uchiha before, why the hell do you need to ask me that? Besides, my goddamn human took it up the ass like a pansy." **_He sounded ticked at that. It almost shocked Sasuke that Gaara had bottomed, even in his current state, but then the Kyuubi licked his neck again and Sasuke was yanked back to reality.

"_**The kit's always blocked me out when he did it, and I'm trying to get you to do something so you won't walk in on us."**_ Twin fangs glowed in the red air as the Kyuubi smiled wickedly.

"_**Take your time, I'd rather find a hot demon chick. Enjoy the sack of flesh."**_

The Kyuubi watched the Shukaku leave, his head still turned away as he pushed a hand under Sasuke's shirt, making him shiver and the Kyuubi smirk wider in response.

The Kyuubi leaned in, running a hot tongue over Sasuke's ear before he hissed in the most deadly and hate-filled voice Sasuke had ever heard the fox speak in, _**"Consider this thanks for Madara Uchiha using me and getting me sealed away all these years."**_

Sasuke's eyes snapped open.

His fault.

Demons didn't distinguishing between humans unless they were jinchuuriki, and even then they were just a hindering annoyance instead of trash. There was no difference between one human and the next to the Kyuubi. He was Madara Uchiha because he was an Uchiha and had the power to control the tailed-demons. To the Kyuubi, it was his fault it was sealed away, and the thing that would hurt him most—one of the only things that could make him bleed inside, somehow the Kyuubi had learned even before he did—was Naruto. Naruto was his weakness. It was his fault Naruto was sealed away in the demon's mind. It was his fault that the Kyuubi was taking over again.

It was his fault that Naruto had been torn from everything he cared about.

Sasuke winced as the Kyuubi bit down, plunging his fangs through the tender skin and cartilage of Sasuke's ear, pulling back to reveal a row of small holes.

Never. Never in his life. He vowed he would **never** plead, never beg, never fall so low…

It made him sick at times like this. Naruto had dragged a gentler, pathetic side of him out by its ears, and now at times when he most needed to be cold, he couldn't.

He had never let Orochimaru touch him, even the thought of it made him want to hurl, but this was Naruto's body even if it wasn't Naruto… and if he could use it to his advantage…

"If I do this," he forced out of his throat, hoping his voice was steady enough and slow enough to make any progress without this backfiring in his face. The Kyuubi pulled back from his neck, looking at him with one eyebrow raised, the claws under Sasuke's shirt now playing with one of his nipples, the danger, pain and pleasure was almost driving Sasuke insane. He could feel himself getting hard, the heat in his body rising.

"If I do this,"—Sasuke swallowed—"let me see Naruto." his voice was somehow firm, even with the lava running around his feet and the Kyuubi's claws and fangs at his throat.

He was playing on thin ice. The Kyuubi could still take him and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

"_**You want to see him Uchiha?"**_

"…Yes."

"…_**Enjoy it, it'll be the last time you or anyone ever sees him."**_

Sasuke bit into his lip, leaning his head back as he tried not to think about anything, to make himself numb as the blazing clawed hand slid from his spine down to the hem of his pants, leaving a trail of blood the whole way.

"_You're marked as mine, and if you ever go against that, I wont hesitate to kill you. I'm not as sentimental as Naruto."_

Sasuke felt sick. The whole time, right from the beginning the Kyuubi had **everything** planned out, down to every corner and step. And now… Sasuke really **was** going to be his.

Sasuke quivered, squeezing his eyes shut as the Kyuubi gently eased two claws under his shirt and tore up until the shirt fluttered away in little scraps. It felt wrong, this dark aura without Naruto's brutality when he lost it. This was worse then when Naruto took him the first time. The Kyuubi was toying with him, making him squirm under the gentle touches that weren't supposed to be happening.

He shivered again, pressing his back into the wall and licking his dry lips as the Kyuubi's tongue danced across his chest and abdomen, making his muscles ripple and his lungs quake. He felt disgusting, he felt used, he felt like when he looked at himself again he would see the monster everyone had told him he was.

…Everyone but Naruto.

"Naruto," Sasuke moaned out as fast as his shuddering breath when the Kyuubi nipped at his naval. The fox paused before letting out an amused laugh and going back to ravaging Sasuke's skin with its tongue.

"I'm here Sasuke."

Sasuke gasped, his head snapping desperately down to Naruto's voice and looking straight into the Kyuubi's blood red eyes as the fox laughed again before hooking its clawed fingers in Sasuke's pants and sliding them down slowly. Sasuke leaned his head back against the wall, tears pricking at his eyes.

_**No**__! I __**refuse**__ to cry!_ Sasuke bit through the skin of his tongue until he could taste blood. This was cruel. Naruto's body, Naruto's touch, and now Naruto's voice. He was going to die from the pain. Sasuke had once thought Itachi knew how to make people suffer with his Tsukuyomi, but this was a reality, not an illusion.

Sasuke moaned, his spine arcing as he leaned forward, the Kyuubi's tongue teasing the tip of his cock, agonizingly hard in the heat, the danger turning him on in ways that disgusted him. And then all at once the Kyuubi took him into his mouth and Sasuke screamed, biting through his lip as he tried to muffle the sounds.

It was hot. It hurt. Too hot.

_Please…!_

"It hurts…!" Sasuke gasped, trying to pull away from the Kyuubi, but his back was against a wall and the Kyuubi only paused for a moment to smirk before continuing the scorching sucking and licking.

"Aah~AH!" Sasuke cried as twin fangs scraped over the tender skin, making his body rock unevenly, and then the Kyuubi pulled back to stand, licking across Sasuke's cheek with his smoldering tongue.

"Turn around Sasuke." Naruto's voice purred into his ear, and Sasuke felt his eyes prick again. He swallowed, remembering the Kyuubi's promise, and slowly pushed away from the wall, turning so he could feel the heat from the walls radiating onto his chest.

Naruto's hands—void of claws—slowly ran up Sasuke's sides and then back down before resting on his hips and pushing forward carefully and gently until Sasuke took the hint and put his hands up to bend forward, leaning against the wall. Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut again, forbidding himself to even blink as the Kyuubi slipped his boxers down, exposing him completely to the heat and danger of the demon fox. He was shaking against the wall, and it took everything he had in him to keep his knees from buckling.

He hissed loudly, his eyes popping open as the fox's tongue pushed into him and he slammed his forehead into the wall, his nails scraping down the wood as he forced himself to stay still, like he was clinging to a burning stake, with a single thought keeping him alive.

_Naruto._

He was burning; his insides were burning, searing and tearing. He gasped, letting out a sharp cry as two fingers pushed gently into him, as hot as the sun, and began to pump in and out of him with the burning tongue.

This was too much. It had to end. The pain had to stop.

"It hurts," he whispered, almost hoping the fox wouldn't hear him, "it hurts, stop, please…"

The Kyuubi's dark laugher made him force his eyes open, and a clawed hand grabbed his chin and turned his head just enough to the side so he was staring into the glowing red eyes. The fox smirked and licked his lips with that scorching tongue.

"_**Stop?"**_ the Kyuubi purred, leaning forward until his back was pressed up against Sasuke's, and he secured one arm around Sasuke's waist as he placed the other clawed hand over one of Sasuke's, scraping against the wall and dripping with blood. _**"Look how hard you are."**_

Sasuke gasped, leaning back into the wood of the walls as a clawed hand wrapped around his length and pulled, making him shake, another sick moan tumbling out of his mouth.

"_**Just think of me as Naruto." **_The Kyuubi laughed, enjoying his pain as he made the kin of the one who had caused him to be sealed suffer. But he knew, that even beyond the physical pain to come, the Kyuubi wasn't done torturing him.

Sasuke braced himself, knowing it was coming, and the Kyuubi slammed into him.

Sasuke screamed, throwing his head back into the Kyuubi's shoulder as the Kyuubi slammed back into him, repeating the motion mercilessly, giving him no time to adjust as he was burned alive from the inside out. Sasuke's fingers bled as his nails cracked against the wall, and blood dripped down his thighs, the Kyuubi holding him up by his waist, as his knees would no longer support him.

His screams echoed around the castle, with no one to hear him, no one to even witness what the fox was doing to him. Sasuke felt disgusting, cries of agony exploding from his throat, his body pressed adjacent to the demon's, the fox slamming into him over and over, using him like a weak human who had no power.

Sasuke swallowed, shutting his eyes, screams pouring from his mouth as a single tear slipped down his cheek.

He'd never felt so weak or helpless in his entire life. He could have died trying to escape, or gone down fighting, but Naruto was more important. He had to see Naruto again before the Kyuubi killed him. He was positive the fox was going to rip his life from his throat the second he was done with him to end the Uchiha line, and he **needed** to see Naruto before then.

Naruto was his life now.

XXX

Sasuke was dizzy. The heat was unbearable. He knew he wasn't standing, his legs couldn't hold him up.

Somehow, he barely managed to register the Kyuubi holding his head so he was looking into the menacing red eyes, and then he was falling through the darkness of the fox's mind.

Sasuke blinked, his head spinning as he looked around. The pain was gone. There was no heat, no light, no auras, he couldn't even sense his own chakra, though he could feel it inside of him if he concentrated enough, though the Sharingan was far beyond his reach.

Something clinked as he shifted, and then something lit that place until it was light enough that he could see a chakra collar around his neck, four chains extending off of it into the darkness where four shadowy figures held them. Sasuke reached up slowly to touch it, and four seals, the kanji for the four elements, above the chains pulsed with a red aura. This was what was sealing his Sharingan. His mind had been pulled into the Kyuubi's. Sasuke could tell, just with a single finger on the cold metal that it was a thousand times more powerful than any seal Konoha had ever put on him.

More light flared in the distance, and Sasuke stepped carefully toward it, the shadowy figures moving with him, his chains dragging across the black floor.

It was Naruto, his beautiful golden hair shining as he lay sleeping, curled up in a little ball in the center of a pillar of light, probably the only light the Kyuubi couldn't smother in its mind.

Sasuke reached out carefully, stepping into the light when his hand went through, the figures holding his chains moving with him. He knelt silently and laid his hand on Naruto's cheek, knowing that the blonde wouldn't wake this time. Nothing Sasuke did or said would wake him.

He crossed his legs and slid his arms under Naruto, lifting him gingerly into his lap, stroking Naruto's normal scars and weaving his fingers through Naruto's golden-blonde hair as he cradled Naruto's head against his chest. Sasuke gritted his teeth, leaning into Naruto and inhaling deeply, laying gentle kisses over Naruto's cheeks, eyes, nose and forehead. Nothing. **Nothing** he did now would help Naruto. The Kyuubi was allowing him to touch the blonde, which meant that the fox was positive he wouldn't wake him.

He must have sat with Naruto for hours in the darkness, maybe days, but it seemed like only seconds before the Kyuubi's giant blood red eyes appeared in front of him.

"_**Your time is up Uchiha."**_

Sasuke's eyes went wide and he clutched Naruto to his chest differently. He couldn't let go. He wouldn't. The fox would have to tear his arms off.

His breath choked in his throat as the four figures yanked sharply on the chains around his neck, making him tumble back. Sasuke gasped, a strangled cry leaping from his throat as he passed through the pillar of light into the darkness, but Naruto didn't go through it, and he grabbed Naruto tighter against his chest desperately.

Two more strands of chains snapped out of the darkness, clamping around Sasuke's wrists and prying them away from Naruto as the metal around his neck dragged him away from Naruto.

"Naruto, wake up!" he screamed, thrashing against the chains as two more wrapped around his ankles, yanking him so he fell to his knees as they pulled him away.

"Wake up Usuratonkachi! Damn it Naruto! Wake up!"

Sasuke's throat closed painfully, but he forced one more thing out past his tongue before he couldn't breathe.

"**You promised**! **You promised you wouldn't let the Kyuubi take you**!"

Naruto didn't even flinch, sleeping calmly in the light as Sasuke was dragged away, and Naruto was slowly swallowed up into the darkness.

XXX

Naruto gasped, sitting up in shock as his eyes shot open. What was going on? He had enough power back and the Kyuubi had lost enough control that he had been able to wake up. Naruto groaned, shaking as he rubbed his chest, remembering all to clearly the fire, hotter than the sun, that was eating him from the inside out. The worst thing was he couldn't move, but he **was** moving. The Kyuubi was moving his body, taking control, and the heat was everywhere, eating at Naruto's mind like acid, and he had absolutely no control. He couldn't move. He couldn't stop the Kyuubi from taking over. And then Sasuke was walking toward him, and he couldn't move his mouth to tell him to get away. Sasuke couldn't hear him. No one could hear him as he screamed for them to run, that it wasn't him they were talking to, it was the demon fox. No one could hear him as he screamed for Sasuke to run, and then the Kyuubi sank his claws into Sasuke's back and Naruto could feel his own chakra and the fox's sealing Sasuke's Sharingan away, sealing his life away.

_Sasuke. _Naruto groaned again, climbing up from his curled up position on the ground as he looked around, his brow furrowed in confusion.

_Oh, Sasuke said the Kyuubi came out when I was asleep, like Gaara, so the Kyuubi must be asleep now if I'm awake._

Naruto looked up and around. Black. He couldn't see anything; this must have been the Kyuubi's mind.

…_Ok, so how did the dust ball get out of my mind when I was asleep?_

Naruto extended his chakra, searching for any sort of opening, but the Kyuubi must have expected that something like this would happen, so there wasn't a single opening.

Naruto smirked, hardly swayed. _Well if I can't find a rip, I'll make one._ He sucked in a deep breath, condensing his chakra down until the light on his finger was scarcely larger than the point of a needle, and in one quick breath released everything he'd condensed into the blackness. It had to be small, or the Kyuubi would wake up.

_Sasuke lashed out with the chidori, smashing through the chest of one of the last rogue ninjas, whirling as the house behind him, already smoldering, went up in flames. He leapt back in shock, tearing off his ANBU mask when some of the dark chakra landed on it and it too started to go up._

"_Uchiha!" the head ANBU roared, landing beside him and shaking a dead rogue ninja off his sword. "Get going! What are you still here for?"_

"_Huh?" Sasuke punched through another's neck, knocking him off to the side._

"_**Move**__!" the man barked, grabbing Sasuke's arm and throwing him toward the burning house. "Get that kid out of there if it kills you or the Hokage will take your head off!"_

_Sasuke nodded dumbly, flying toward the house. What kid? Tsunade didn't have any children._

_Sasuke launched himself forward off of a ninja that had jumped in front of him and put his arms up for as much protection as he could get, and smashed through the window on the third floor._

_His hands shot up and he leaned back as part of the ceiling caved in above him. It was too hot; he couldn't see anything through the heat waves and the flames trying to eat him alive._

"_Where are you?" he shouted, coughing as the smoke filled his lungs and made his eyes tear up._

_Sasuke whirled to the sound of a small cry and grabbed the door handle behind him. He shook it violently before tearing it off its hinges and hurling it away when it was jammed, leaping through the fire on the other side of the door._

_He dodged more of the ceiling falling in on his head and leapt over the burning bed, ripping open the closet door. There, shivering behind smoldering clothes was Naruto, a three-year-old Naruto, sniffing up at Sasuke, his eyes wide and about to brim over with tears._

Naruto blinked experimentally, looking around through the Kyuubi's eyes, thoroughly shocked at how much more the Kyuubi saw than him. He could **see** his own chakra in the air, he could see the Kyuubi's, he could see Sasuke's, he could see the Shukaku's, who was presently sleeping in Gaara's body—

Sasuke's chakra!

Naruto looked around, inching forward, testing out his movement. Good, it was fine, but he had a feeling that the Kyuubi would wake up and he would be pushed back into its mind. Hopefully the Kyuubi wouldn't know, like he didn't know the fox came out when he was sleeping.

Naruto crept forward, being careful not to wake the Shukaku as he pushed open the door of melting metal—hot even to his touch—and stepped out into the rest of the castle, blazing red with the Kyuubi's dark chakra in the air. Naruto sniffed, his eyes going wide as he looked around. The **entire** castle was made out of the Shukaku and Kyuubi's chakra, which explained why the Shukaku wasn't in danger from the heat even though he was a demon.

Naruto weeded out Sasuke's chakra from the air, a calm, cooling blue, and followed it through the red chakra floating through the air. He closed his eyes, letting his nose and the Kyuubi's senses lead him down through four levels. He could sense Sasuke's chakra getting closer and closer, and he was a little unnerved by how… **hurt** Sasuke's chakra seemed.

_Sasuke couldn't move, his eyes wide and his breath caught in his throat. What was going on? The ceiling creaked above him, cracking as plaster fell on their heads and Sasuke lunged into the closet, yanking Naruto out and into his arms just as the ceiling caved in and took out the floor below it. Sasuke stared down through the hole for a second before racing out of the room. The wreckage of the house had blocked in every window he passed; he had to find another way out._

_Sasuke leapt for the stairs, grinding to a halt and falling back as he tried to turn around, his eyes wide. The Kyuubi's enormous blood red eyes hovered above him, smiling and laughing at him as he scrambled back, running from them with everything he had, clutching Naruto to his chest._

_He gasped again, falling back, Naruto whimpering into his shoulder as he turned another flaming corner to run straight into the glowing red Mangekyo Sharingan, the three whirling pinwheels that Sasuke recognized instantly as Itachi Uchiha's._

Naruto was speechless, staring down at Sasuke lying on the floor of the cell like a dying baby bird. Naruto growled and in one movement yanked the door of the cell off, bending the rest of the bars beyond repair as he hurled it out of the way into a far wall, sinking down by Sasuke, his hands fluttering above the raven, scared to even touch him.

Sasuke's flawless pale skin was covered in claw and teeth marks, deep purple bruises were embedded through his flesh down to the bone, burns still smoldered with smoke on his arms, legs and torso, and his burned and torn clothing left him open to every danger in this place. Naruto growled again, biting into his lip as Sasuke shivered in his sleep.

He reached out carefully, wincing as Sasuke flinched violently when he placed his hand on his back. Naruto peeled back Sasuke's clothing carefully, first his shirt and then his pants, his fists clenching at what he saw. He swore if he had the power he would kill himself this second and take the Kyuubi to hell with him for what the fox did.

Naruto slid his hands under Sasuke, holding him tighter when he tried to push away, and began to heal him, pulling the Kyuubi's chakra from his flesh to heal him completely when his ordinary healing techniques wouldn't work. The only thing he couldn't heal were the bite marks in Sasuke's neck, but he knew those had been there ever since Sasuke first started following and the Kyuubi came out. Sasuke had never told him exactly how he got them, but Naruto could tell they were from the Kyuubi just from the chakra sealing it, keeping the bite marks from being healed. Besides, he'd seen the fang marks he'd left in things after turning to the fox's chakra.

He hugged Sasuke's sleeping form tightly to his chest, whispering apologies over and over again, holding Sasuke gently as the raven continued to shake. He held the back of Sasuke's head like an infant, keeping the other on his back to make sure he wouldn't fall to the unforgiving stone floor, and pressed their lips gingerly together. Naruto opened his mouth slightly, keeping a firm hold on Sasuke as he forced his chakra into Sasuke's mouth, more and more until he was scared that the raven would burst with this much chakra inside of him, and then all at once Naruto felt the seal in Sasuke's mind shatter, and the aura of the Sharingan swirled around the last Uchiha again.

_Sasuke ducked, unable to do anything as Itachi's eyes dove for him, and shielded Naruto with his body, but Itachi's eyes flew past him, smashing into the Kyuubi's, and in a blinding flash of chakra and fire they were both gone, a clear path free of fire to a blank wall on the far side of the house._

Go, Sasuke._ Itachi's voice echoed around his mind, and Sasuke scrambled up from the floor, gripping Naruto to him tightly as the smaller boy watched. He tucked Naruto's head into his shoulder, tipped his head forward and flipped himself into the wall, throwing all of his strength into the jump, and he whirled through the air, his back smashing through the plaster and he and Naruto fell out into the sunlight, free from the flames._

_Sasuke sat up, a little dazed from the heat and the shock of seeing Itachi's Mangekyo that he almost didn't notice how much heavier Naruto was until he tried to pick him up because people were running for them, yelling their congratulations and crying that Naruto was all right._

_He looked down in shock, and the nineteen year old smiled back up at him, wrapping his arms carefully around Sasuke's neck and pulling him into a kiss._

Sasuke groaned, his eyes blurred over as he pried them open to look around him. He… could feel the Sharingan. He could feel his chakra, and those things in his mind, the chains… were gone. Sasuke reached out carefully feeling for the large blob of black in front of him.

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, taking Sasuke's hand and holding it to his tanned cheek. Sasuke sighed, his head leaning back into Naruto's other hand.

Naruto was here.

He was all right.

He was safe.

Sasuke's eyes shot open in shock and flicked back up to the blob holding him. He couldn't see the jinchuuriki, but he could feel the hot tears dripping down the back of his hand.

"I'm so sorry." Naruto whimpered, pressing his lips gingerly to Sasuke's hand and then to his forehead. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't… all of a sudden the fox was just… I couldn't warn you… I didn't know in time… I—"

"Shut up Usuratonkachi." Sasuke growled, straining his muscles as he reached out blindly and pulled Naruto into another kiss, his hands running over Naruto's neck and back as Naruto clung desperately to him, almost as if… time was running out.

Sasuke laid a hand on Naruto's cheek as another tear fell on his own pale cheek. They burned, but he didn't care. "Naruto, what…?"

"…You have to run…" Naruto forced out finally, pulling away from Sasuke.

What the hell was the Dobe saying?

"And leave you? Like hell—"

"I'm only awake for as long as the Kyuubi's asleep!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Sasuke's hands and pulling them away from him. Sasuke's vision was coming back even though he still didn't have complete control over his movement and he could see only too clearly the desperate and frantic look behind Naruto's bright blue eyes that would shame the sky.

"You don't have time to argue with me!" he continued, his voice wobbling. "The Kyuubi is going to return to Konoha to destroy it and the Shukaku is going to Suna after that, you have to run before they do and warn them… even if you don't stay there… just warn them…"

"Naru—"

"Please Sasuke!" Naruto begged, his voice shaking even more as he pushed Sasuke off of his lap and onto the floor. Sasuke panicked, the fading footsteps echoing around the walls.

"Naruto!" he sighed mentally when the hot hands took his own again, but he couldn't overcome the feeling of trepidation. "You have to fight it, you're strong enough."

Naruto was silent, and then all of a sudden he let go of Sasuke's hands and pressed his blazing lips to Sasuke's.

"I'm sorry." Naruto whispered when he pulled back, his voice waterlogged. "…I can't. Sasuke… I'm not coming back again after this time."

And then he was gone.

Trust me everyone! If you're like me and would stop if you think there won't be a happy ending, then just keep reading!

Please trust me! You've made it this far already!

Please review! Thanks again cyber cookie lovers!

A quick note, the only thing that pisses me off more than flaming reviews, is assholes who can't even put a name to their obnoxiously rude reviews.

If you're going to flame, don't be a coward and do it right to my face.

I put "warning, mpreg" right in the description, fucktard. If you don't like mpreg, here's a hint:

Don't read the fucking story.


	26. I'll Die For You

I don't own anything but my ideas.

I'll Die For You

Sasuke's bangs hid his face, his head dipped down so he didn't meet the eyes of anyone as the hospital staff worked over his body, healing the wounds Naruto hadn't healed completely because he'd been in such a hurry, gaping at the burns Naruto had kissed him for, glancing at each other unsurely at the claw and teeth marks Naruto had cried over.

Sasuke could still feel Naruto's hot tears dripping down his cheeks, and he was sure there was more burn marks where they had.

It was painful to sit, but he had to. He was too exhausted after the Kyuubi and then running all the way back to Konoha to warn them like Naruto had wanted.

Sasuke knew Naruto knew what had happened between him and the Kyuubi; what he didn't know was what the jinchuuriki thought about it, if he was sickened at Sasuke or at the Kyuubi for it. Naruto had cried, but Sasuke hadn't been able to see his face or the emotions in his eyes. Whether the tears were from anger, sadness, hate or disgust… Sasuke was still in the dark over it.

A nurse reached for his waist band and the burns on his lower back—the ones that she could see poking over his pants at least—and he smacked her hand away sharply, startling the other hospital members so they jolted back nervously, already on edge from just being around him while he wasn't bound down in any way.

"I-I—"

"Not there." Sasuke whispered, his voice almost pleading. He'd never felt so violated—used—disgusting in his life. He didn't want anyone else to touch him again, or even see how low he had fallen. Naruto was the only one who might have understood, all his life he had been used and tortured by the Kyuubi, but now…

His breath lodged painfully in his throat and his eyes began to burn again.

Disgusting. Pathetic. Weak.

"…We can get you a male nurse—"

"No." Sasuke cut her off, shaking his head.

And that's when Tsunade, standing in the doorway and watching them heal the one person who truly knew what had and would happen to her brat, knew exactly what had happened. She flinched, making the ANBU beside her shift nervously, but she shook her head.

_Damn you Kyuubi, damn you to the seven hells and back again. _She pressed her lips into a thin line, fighting to keep the rest of her body relaxed.

"Everyone out." Tsunade said quietly, walking over to Sasuke. The nurses immediately began packing up their things, leaving Sasuke sitting on the hospital bed, again surrounded by the sickening white.

White and black. Life and nightmares. This was what his life was left as. There was no sight of the color he really wanted:

Orange.

"You too." Tsunade turned to the ANBU, who all shifted again. "Go, he wont do anything."

She waited until they were gone before closing the door, turning back to the motionless Uchiha. Despite everything he had done, she couldn't ignore the pang of sadness and sympathy in her heart. This boy, this **boy**, not even twenty, not even a man, not even old enough to supposed to be introduced to this much suffering, had lost everything. Even without Dan, her brother and her brat, she still had people that were important in her life, but this **boy**, had truly lost everything.

"Sasuke… do you think… you'll be able to wake him up again?"

She doubted. Oh yes, she doubted, because if he could have, then the Dobe would be here right now clinging to the Uchiha and healing his wounds while he shooed the hospital staff away, and Sasuke would be glaring at her instead of in a partial catatonic state.

It was eons before Sasuke answered, and even when he did his lips barely moved, his voice just reaching her across the three-foot space between them.

"No."

Tsunade bit her lip. He wasn't even sure. He was **positive**. It was even painful for her, hearing the agony he tried to hide in his voice.

"…But…"—Tsunade looked back up as he spoke again—"I do think I have… something we can do."

Tsunade sighed before shrugging slightly. With the Kyuubi and the Shukaku on the way to the village, the civilians evacuating, every ninja of every age preparing for a war with the demons, and her ideas completely blank aside from ringing a giant alarm clock in the Kyuubi's ear to wake Naruto up, this was all they had.

"Let's hear it. Even the council is up for anything now. This is your playing field now Sasuke, we're all waiting for your next move."

Sasuke nodded, a small, sad smirk tugging at his lips. "First, I need to see Sakura, Sai and Neji… find me Kakashi if you can, and anyone else willing to work with me who has large amounts of chakra. Then I need Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba and anyone else who doesn't hate my guts as much as other people and are willing to die for this goddamn village, preferably people who the other ninjas look up to and will listen to."

Tsunade's brow furrowed. He needed large amounts of chakra? Both for him and the ninjas of Konoha? What was he planning?

XXX

Sasuke stilled his breathing, listening for every tiny sound echoing over the miles around Konoha, waiting.

The normally still wind whipped around him, the air turbulence chaotic from the heat waves that were no doubt approaching from the distance. Sasuke could see everything from atop Hashirama Senju's statue in the Valley of the End; he could feel the Kyuubi's menacing aura growing stronger in the air, like electricity, making his hair stand on end, but he couldn't see it yet. Even so, Konoha had only minutes at best before the demon came again.

Sasuke reached up and gripped the orange fabric of the his scarf, watching Naruto's flames whip around him out of the corners of his eyes. He could feel the Uchiha symbol on his back, burning as if to remind him of the power he had been given. He could defeat the Kyuubi, and he would, even if he died to do it.

Even… even if both he and Naruto died… well, it was what Naruto would want if they took the Kyuubi with them. The Kyuubi would be dead and everyone else safe. With Naruto gone, Sasuke had nothing else to live for either, certainly not Konoha, and he couldn't destroy it because of Naruto. There was nothing for him in this world anymore.

Sasuke ran his black-gloved fingers over the black forearm protectors that matched the black chest armor and his black pants, courtesy of the Dobe. Sasuke couldn't help the sad smile that touched his lips at the memory. He still couldn't believe he hadn't died of a heat stroke in Suna; honestly, at times Naruto could be a genius, but at others he acted like he'd forgotten to put his brain in when he got up that morning.

All of his clothing had been so charged by Tsunade with so much fireproof chakra that he could feel them buzzing against his skin, but that wasn't the chakra he was measuring. He could feel the ninjas gathering in Konoha, all of them. Those from the academy who hadn't graduated yet, Genin, Chunin, Jounin, ANBU, he could even feel some of the councils' chakra. He paused for a moment, his brow furrowing as he picked out a select few, Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee, Ino, Choji, Shino, Iruka, Konohamaru, and many others who were leading the ninjas. Tsunade was down there, but the ANBU had been placed in charge of the ninja of Konoha so everyone with more than enough chakra to protect themselves could use it for something else.

All of the ninja of Konoha only had one job, to protect the village. Sasuke knew that if they used all of their chakra to block the fire, then the village could be spared during this battle, just like the Dobe had wanted.

Sasuke reached out with his chakra in a different direction, making sure he had connection with the others. A select few, the ones who didn't hate him nearly as much as the rest of the village or were close enough to Naruto to want to help Sasuke, had been placed far enough away from the village to not become involved in the battle so they could send all of their chakra to him. He could feel them waiting, reaching out with their chakra for when he needed it, Kakashi, Tsunade, Sakura, Hinata, and Sai. If this worked… well, in the best circumstances he would be around to see Konoha pull through this war with the demons.

With some help from Tsunade to learn it during the last two days, Sasuke was going to use the same seal the Yondaime had used to seal the Kyuubi inside of Naruto originally. In every past instance of using it, the seal had been fatal, but if Sasuke was right, then that was only because it was too much of a strain on the body and the chakra, as well as the Eight Gates of the chakra's pathway through the body. It was possible, and highly likely that if his body and chakra were using other chakra for power as well as having others share the strain on his body, that no one would have to die when he used the seal.

There was one other thing Sasuke had changed, only altering the seal slightly. Sasuke didn't know about Gaara and the Shukaku, but he knew that Naruto and the Kyuubi had merged—everything, chakra, soul, and now body—which meant that if Sasuke sealed the Kyuubi into something else like himself, the Kyuubi would either pull the Dobe with him into the seal or it would tear the Kyuubi from Naruto, tearing his soul in half and killing him, so instead Sasuke had changed the seal so it only sealed the demon back within Naruto, thereby keeping his soul intact.

Sasuke looked over to Neji as he felt the pale-eyed ninja's hand on his shoulder and nodded. Tsunade originally wasn't going to let anyone but Sasuke be up here fighting the demons and Sasuke had agreed with her for once, not wanting anyone the Dobe cared about to die because of him, but then Neji had said the one thing to him that could have changed his mind, "Would you let someone else save Naruto for you?"

It hadn't taken a genius to figure out that Gaara and Neji had the same thing he and Naruto did, and if something happened to Gaara and Neji wasn't there, Sasuke at least knew he would never have been able to forgive himself if the same thing happened with Naruto. In this way at least, with people channeling their chakra to both of them, each could fight and seal one demon and lessen both their chances of death and how much of the village would be damaged, or even destroyed.

Neji turned to the direction of Suna, and Sasuke could also feel the chakra of the sand ninja approaching. With their Kazekage in danger and about to attack Suna, the ninjas of Suna had readily agreed to join in protecting Konoha which was going to be attacked first according to Naruto, and soon Sasuke felt Kankuro and Temari's chakra begin to pour into Neji's and his own.

And then he saw it. In the distance, he could see the glow of the Kyuubi's dark fire, rapidly growing bigger and brighter, the air now whipping like a tornado around them. Neji gave his shoulder one final squeeze before he stepped back, letting Sasuke jump over to Madara Uchiha's statue so they both had safe room to fight, spreading his feet for better balance as the wind nearly blew him back where he was standing. He reached out with his chakra as Neji did, merging their chakra and calling power from both of their elements. Neji was Sasuke's last connection of chakra if either got cut off from Sakura and the others, and likewise, he was Neji's last lifeline.

Sasuke braced himself against the tearing wind as the Kyuubi raced into view, the Shukaku on its heels. The Shukaku's cackled echoed over the hills as it began firing at Konoha and the surrounding mountains, the forest exploding in showers of splinters and stones raining down over the village. Sasuke tuned out their screaming and looked back to the Kyuubi.

The enormous fox took one more giant leap and landing in front of Sasuke, its gigantic claws tearing through the ground and leaving scars as deep as three times Sasuke's height in the earth. Its tails swept across the trees, sending them flying through the air into the village and lake as they burst into flame from the heat. The Kyuubi smiling excitedly, it's white fangs shaking in anticipation.

Anticipation for tearing Sasuke's head off. Sasuke clenched his fists and steeled his body.

The Shukaku finally turned away from its fun with the village and to Neji as the Kyuubi stared down Sasuke, red eyes to black. Those red eyes looked weird on Naruto, just like the blue eyes would look weird on the Kyuubi. Like they didn't belong.

"_**You look healed human, it's too bad you didn't stay longer. I had so many ways to kill you." **_The Kyuubi purred, kneading the earth.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tighter. "Crawl back in the hell hole you belong in and let Naruto go, you goddamn demon." He spat.

The Kyuubi chuckled, its eyes narrowing. _**"You'd better be ready to fight for the kit."**_

"I'll **always** fight for him. I'll die for him if that's what it takes to bring you down."

The Kyuubi threw back its head, it teeth gleaming in the sun and the fire around them as it roared with laugher.

"_**That's exactly what I want. For you to die for him, human!"**_it snarled and lunged forward, the heat waves in the air nearly knocking Sasuke back off his feet. Sasuke grabbed his sword and launched himself into the air, yanking it out of its sheath as the air sparked blindingly with the lightning.

Sasuke started the jutsu immediately, forming the hand signs around blasting the Kyuubi's fire away with his lighting and flipping out of the way of the Kyuubi's jaws snapping at him. He had to dodge, if he fought he knew the Kyuubi would take down Konoha before he had gotten close to weakening it, and even then he would have been out of his and everyone else's chakra and wouldn't have been able to finish the seal. Already he could feel chakra flowing into him and then back out of his body to keep his speed and chakra levels piqued.

Sasuke grunted, nearly snapping his spine as he twisted away from one of the Kyuubi's tails, his fingers breaking to hold his sword and form the seals at the same time. He diffused the lightning around his sword and shoved the blade between his teeth, cracking his neck to cut through the fire swirling around him as he continued to make the hand signs. He barely had time for his toes to touch the ground to regain his footing before he had to throw himself out of the way again, skidding along the ground, knocked out of the sky by the force of the Kyuubi's tails smashing the ground where he had been a nanosecond before.

Sasuke scrambled up, trying to lead the fox away as another sign formed in his fingers when one of the Kyuubi's tails appeared in front of him and Sasuke was smashed backwards, the air forcing itself out of his lungs and his eyes popping. He barely got his vision straight and let himself slip down off the Cliffside to avoid the Kyuubi's paw flattening him into the rock.

Sasuke glanced over to Neji, watching the veins pop around his eyes as he formed one sign and then attacked the Shukaku, who was still cackling as he launched attack after attack at Neji. All he had to do was wake Gaara up, if he sealed the Shukaku again then Gaara might still at least be able to sleep, but if he could just wake the Kazekage up then that battle would be won. The problem was that the sand ninja might decide they would leave after Gaara had woken up, even if the Kyuubi was still trying to burn Konoha down into the ground.

Sasuke watched as Neji's fingers wove into the fifth to last hand sign. He could see the power being drained in the Hyuuga's eyes. Both attacking and sealing was taking a serious toll on him, not to mention the high levels of chakra for the Byakugan and to dodge the Shukaku's attacks.

The sand demon fired suddenly, missing Neji by a hair as he swayed from using too much energy, and Sasuke could only watch as the ball of chakra shot by Neji and into the woods where the forest exploded again, and then he heard Sakura's scream and the chakra being channeled into him was gone. Like when the Kyuubi had sealed his Sharingan, it was just gone.

Sasuke watched as Neji's eyes went wide with horror. He only had four more hand signs to go to seal the Shukaku back into Gaara, but with the chakra connection cut off, there was no way he would be able to do it. He had almost collapsed from exhaustion already. He was going to lose the seal if there was too much of a break in the chakra going into it, but without the chakra from Sakura and the others, he wouldn't be able to finish it.

Possibilities were whirling behind Neji's eyes. To stall the Shukaku, to use Sasuke's chakra, to just try and hold the seal in place until the chakra was flowing into them again.

…No, they wouldn't work and would all still take chakra.

Sasuke could only watch from the other side of the Kyuubi as Neji made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and finished the last four signs.

Sasuke choked on the chakra being yanked out of his chest, and then Neji cut off the connection between them and Sasuke could breathe again, but Neji…

The wind swirled up around the Shukaku and it threw back its head, looking at the sky and trying to form another chakra attack. The wind seemed to swirl up from Neji, pummeling the Shukaku into the ground and making it rock dangerously into the trees.

"_**NO!"**_ the Shukaku shrieked suddenly, his eyes bleeding from the telltale gold-back to blue in almost an instant.

Sasuke could see Neji's veins about to pop with the strain, and his chakra was about to tear his body apart as it soared out of him to the Shukaku, battering the demon down.

And then all at once the wind disappeared and the Shukaku was left quaking, Neji frozen as he watched, his fingers still in the position as the last sign, his feet slipping on the loose stone that had been uprooted beneath him.

"_**No! Damn it! I was so close…!" **_the Shukaku roared, its eyes rolling back in its head as the sand making up its body started to disintegrate.

Neji's hands slipped from the sign and fell to his sides, and then his feet slid out from under him and he collapsed, his eyes blank, the veins still bulging around them. The sand careened to the ground, sweeping over trees and tearing up boulders until only Gaara's unconscious form was left floating in the sky. He hovered there for a moment before slipping out of the air and plummeting to the ground next to Neji.

Sakura's chakra suddenly shoved itself back into Sasuke's mind, and Sasuke couldn't breathe again as he felt it searching for Neji's chakra to merge with. He could feel Sakura's energy going from hurt and tired to terrified when she couldn't find it. The only chakra Sasuke could feel left from Neji was the remnants of the seals still floating in the air mixed with the Shukaku's chakra clinging to everything from the sand and the attacks.

_Sakura! Get the hell up here and get Neji and Gaara before the Kyuubi kills them!_

_Sasuke! What happened? What's going—_

_**Now Sakura**__! Neji finished the seal himself when you all were cut off!_

_Oh my god! Is he ok—_

_**Sakura**__! __**Right fucking now**__!_

Sasuke formed the chidori in his hands, hoping it would be enough as Sakura and Sai appeared at the edge of the forest, and fired it straight at the Kyuubi's eye. The fox merely growled and swiped it back at him so Sasuke had to dive to the side to avoid it, but it had been enough time and Sakura disappeared into the woods again with Sai, Gaara and Neji.

The Kyuubi whirled, the Shukaku's aura now completely gone with Gaara, and roared so loud it shook Sasuke's ear drums, making him stumbled as his brain rocked. Sasuke clutched at the sides of his head, tumbling to one knee as the Kyuubi looked around. The demon roared again and a ball of blinding red chakra appeared on its tongue.

Sasuke raised his hands to block the attack, his own chakra staring to be dangerously drained now too, when the Kyuubi whipped its head to the side and fired straight at Konoha.

Sasuke was launched back as the Hokage tower exploded like an atom bomb, raining fire and dark chakra down on the village as people screamed and tried to put it out with everything they had. Buildings caught and went up in flames in seconds, the younger and slower ninja were crushed under hunks of the falling Hokage tower, ninja were blasted back from the sheer power of the attack or by being hit head on with some of the chakra itself. They were dead even before they hit the ground, the chakra swallowing them whole.

Sasuke slammed his feet into the ground to steady himself and forced his fingers to form the last sign, ignoring how numb they were. He smirked, watching the Kyuubi's eyes go wide as it realized what had happened and then gasped again as his own chakra was torn out of him.

He was going to die; it was more painful than anything he'd ever felt, like his lungs and heart were being ripped from his chest through his pores. He was dizzy and the wind was so strong it was sucking the air out of his lungs before he could get any oxygen. His clothes where whipping around him and almost catching like sails and pulling him toward the fox, but he ground his heels deeper into the rock and kept his fingers in the last sign. All of his energy was being sucked out of him like a tornado was ripping at his soul. He didn't even have the strength to try and breathe.

He didn't have any strength left to move as he watched the Kyuubi pour all of its chakra into its mouth in one final attack before it was sealed away, and fire it straight at him.

It was a cyclone, a hurricane of dark chakra and fire barreling at him, too wide to dodge, too high to jump over, and too fast to run from.

Sasuke threw his arms up, wincing as he pulled more of everyone else's chakra into his body and raised a shield at the last second. Barely strong enough to keep his skin from disintegrating from the power, it blasted him back, his head snapping back, his lungs empty and his heart still like he had just been kicked in the chest by both the Shukaku and the Kyuubi. His eyes were glazing over and things were starting to go blurry. His mind was blank, just watching the world move by him at an agonizingly slow pace, as he seemed to drift slowly back, the statue disappearing beneath him as he plunged toward the water.

Sakura appeared over him, reaching out for him, but just when her fingers were about to grasp around his scarf a wall of fire roared up between them, keeping her from getting anywhere near him, and then he crashed through the surface of the water.

The Kyuubi wanted him dead if he was going to go down. Just like what Sasuke had fought for.

Sasuke watched the fire above the water slowly grow dimmer as he drifted downward, his limbs floating motionless around him. His head felt light and his lungs were about to explode, but he didn't have the strength to move.

The orange scarf with flames dancing on the hems floated up off of his neck, and his fingers twitched toward it in one last desperate attempt to reach for Naruto, but it slipped through his grip and that too soon disappeared in the darkness of the water, floating up as he sank.

He didn't care.

The Kyuubi was sealed and Naruto was safe.

The baby too.

He wondered idly if Neji was ok, or if the seal had been too much of a strain on him.

It could have easily killed him.

He wondered if Gaara was all right too.

No matter how little they got along, Gaara had really helped him these past months.

He really should have thanked him, or had the Dobe thank the Kazekage for him.

He couldn't move. The water was dark and heavy, the last of the sun and fire above the surface being swallowed by the darkness.

"…_Sasuke."_

…_?_

"_Sasuke."_

"_A...niki?"_

_Sasuke looked up to see his brother standing before him. He didn't know where they were. It was dark, but not too much to see, and the first thing he noticed was that both he and his brother were dressed in the traditional Uchiha clothing. Itachi just stood there, waiting for him to say something._

"…_You're going to be an uncle." He said after a moment._

"_I know." Itachi nodded. Sasuke didn't even bother asking how he knew. Itachi was just like that. _

"_I'm proud of you, and I think father and mother would be too." _

_Sasuke couldn't explain what he felt to that one sentence, but it made his heart lift out of his chest. _

_Proud. _

_Of him. _

_Not so long ago that idea would have been unfathomable. _

"_How did you get back?" Sasuke asked quietly. "I mean, why haven't you moved on yet?" _

"_I have, it's because of the Sharingan that I can get back." _

_That made sense, sort of. Itachi could create all sorts of alternate universes with the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke just assumed that his brother could do seemingly impossible things now; it didn't come as a surprise at all for some reason._

"_Let's go Sasuke, everyone's waiting." Itachi turned to walk into the blackness.___

"…_I'm coming Aniki." Sasuke looked back once more over his shoulder, but continued to follow his brother seeing that there was nothing behind him. He paused at the sound of a faint splash, looking back in confusion, but all he could see was still black. Just thick, inky black._

"_It looks like someone isn't ready for you to die yet." Itachi said, looking up to the sky. _

"…_What do you see?" Sasuke asked, following his gaze. It all just looked black to him. _

"_They're waiting for you Sasuke." Itachi said, as he started to fade into the darkness. No, Sasuke had lost Naruto far too many times to the darkness. _

"_Aniki!" he yelled, stumbling forward into the darkness. "Aniki, no, __**wait**__!" _

"_You will be here with us someday Sasuke, but not now. Go back to him and your child." Itachi smiled softly at him._

On the Shore

Sakura tried to push the fire away to see past it for Sasuke. She had heard him hit the water, but nothing else.

"SASUKE!" she screamed. _He has to come back up! He __**has**__ to!_

The fire suddenly disappeared from in front of her and she didn't take time to wonder what had happened before she flew to the ground, running waist-deep into the water and looking around desperately, her hands clawing through the water. Others splashed into the lake beside her, but only her own fear was taking up her mind.

She couldn't see him. The water was clear but she couldn't see anything.

_He couldn't have sunk to the bottom yet, could he? It's way too deep!_

She froze suddenly, looking back out to the water, her eyes as wide as the full moon, water dripping off of her skin, people searching through the water around her.

She couldn't breathe.

"Look!" she screamed, pointing out to the center of the lake. Anxious eyes whirled to where she was pointing, all too franticly looking for the last Uchiha to notice the horror in her sea green eyes, but their own horror shown through the moment they laid eyes on what she had seen.

The surface of the water was still, and then, very slowly, an orange scarf with red flames that almost seemed to dance on the cloth floated to the surface, bobbing gently in the clear water.

Everyone was silent, too stunned to even move, and then Sakura's scream shattered the sky. "**SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEE**!"

Please review! It makes me want to post the next chapter! Thanks for reading!


	27. Please Don't Die, Not For Me

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Please Don't Die, Not For Me

Earlier On the Shore

Sakura tried to push the fire away to see past it for Sasuke. She had heard him hit the water, but nothing else.

"SASUKE!" she screamed. _He has to come back up! He __**has**__ to!_

The fire suddenly disappeared from in front of her and she didn't take time to wonder what had happened before she flew to the ground, running waist-deep into the water and looking around desperately, her hands clawing through the water. Others splashed into the lake beside her, but only her own fear was taking up her mind.

She couldn't see him. The water was clear but she couldn't see anything.

_He couldn't have sunk to the bottom yet, could he? It's way too deep!_

She froze suddenly, looking back out to the water, her eyes as wide as the full moon, water dripping off of her skin, people searching through the water around her.

She couldn't breathe.

"Look!" she screamed, pointing out to the center of the lake. Anxious eyes whirled to where she was pointing, all too franticly looking for the last Uchiha to notice the horror in her sea green eyes, but their own horror shown through the moment they laid eyes on what she had seen.

The surface of the water was still, and then, very slowly, an orange scarf with red flames that almost seemed to dance on the cloth floated to the surface, bobbing gently in the clear water.

Everyone was silent, too stunned to even move, and then Sakura's scream shattered the sky. "**SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEE**!"

Earlier On The Cliff

Naruto dragged himself up on his elbows, looking around the top of the giant statue. He didn't know which one it was and he didn't honestly care. They were rocks; he had more important things to worry about.

Somewhere in his mind he could feel Tsunade trying to hold him down, and his skin was on fire from the heat of the Kyuubi's power, not to mention the raging headache in his mind from the Kyuubi throwing an absolute conniption fit. There was a hurricane in his mind from the fox's swirling power and rage. Tsunade was telling him something, but he could only seem to pick out small bits of it.

"…Don't move… more injured… Sasuke sealed the Kyuubi… you can't move…"

…_Sasuke sealed the Kyuubi again? _It didn't make sense… why could he hear the fox on a rampage in his mind…? _Oh._

He and the fox had merged. Even if the seal had been reinforced, forcing the fox back into its cage, he could never truly lock it away if it was part of his power and soul now. He felt sick from that realization.

…_Where is Sasuke?_

Naruto groaned, rolling himself onto his stomach. Even over the din of the Kyuubi in his ears, he could hear people below. Actually, he could hear turmoil below. What were they all doing by the water?

Good **god** his head hurt.

"Sasu… where's S-Sasuke…?" he choked out, dragging his eyes up to look at Tsunade.

"Fine," she said quickly, trying to force him back onto his back. "Lie down so I can—"

"Where?" Naruto cut her off. Naruto knew Sasuke, and if Sasuke had sealed him, he would be here. Sasuke not being here automatically meant that he was not in any way fine.

"They… he had… the Kyuubi attacked Sasuke, they just took him to the hospital so they could—"

Naruto knew she was lying. She wouldn't meet his eyes even though he had just woken up from god knows how many days of being locked in the Kyuubi's mind and away from her all together.

He knew that she was lying, even before Sakura's blood-curdling scream shot through his ears, echoing back up from the bottom of the cliff.

"**SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEE**!"

Naruto clawed at the ground, dragging himself toward the edge to see what was going on, kicking away Tsunade desperately as she tried to drag him back.

It was wrong. Everything was just **wrong**. Tsunade wasn't telling him what had happened to Sasuke. She wasn't calling him "the Uchiha", she had called him by his **first name**. She was holding Naruto back. She didn't want him to see what was happening at the bottom of the waterfall. And Sakura had screamed for Sasuke. She had screamed for him like that when he had almost died on the bridge. Sakura was strong, she stood up to him in his fourth-tailed form; it took a lot to make her sound that desperate. He had found that out first hand.

Naruto gave Tsunade one last sharp kick, strong enough to push him all the way to the edge of the cliff so he could look over to the water even though his vision was still blurry. People were scattered like leaves blowing around the edge of the water, pawing through the blackness, looking for something in its depths.

"Naruto! You need to lie still, the Kyuubi has already put the baby in distress! You could have a miscarriage!"

And then Naruto saw it.

An orange scarf with red flames that almost seemed to dance on the hems of the cloth that bobbed gently in the water.

Naruto couldn't breathe. The world had stopped moving. Every leaf, every person, every ripple of water, and he could feel very clearly that his heart was no longer beating in his chest.

Naruto threw himself forward with a strangled cry, his fingers scraping through the rock as he fought to get to the water, tearing out of Tsunade's grip like a wild animal and plummeting toward the surface of the water.

_XXX_

"…_Sasuke."_

…_?_

"_Sasuke."_

"_A...niki?"_

_Sasuke looked up to see his brother standing before him. He didn't know where they were. It was dark, but not too much to see, and the first thing he noticed was that both he and his brother were dressed in the traditional Uchiha clothing. Itachi just stood there, waiting for him to say something._

"…_You're going to be an uncle." He said after a moment._

"_I know." Itachi nodded. Sasuke didn't even bother asking how he knew. Itachi was just like that. _

"_I'm proud of you, and I think father and mother would be too." _

_Sasuke couldn't explain what he felt to that one sentence, but it made his heart lift out of his chest. _

_Proud. _

_Of him. _

_Not so long ago that idea would have been unfathomable. _

"_How did you get back?" Sasuke asked quietly. "I mean, why haven't you moved on yet?" _

"_I have, it's because of the Sharingan that I can get back." _

_That made sense, sort of. Itachi could create all sorts of alternate universes with the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke just assumed that his brother could do seemingly impossible things now; it didn't come as a surprise at all for some reason._

"_Let's go Sasuke, everyone's waiting." Itachi turned to walk into the blackness.___

"…_I'm coming Aniki." Sasuke looked back once more over his shoulder, but continued to follow his brother seeing that there was nothing behind him. He paused at the sound of a faint splash, looking back in confusion, but all he could see was still black. Just thick, inky black._

"_It looks like someone isn't ready for you to die yet." Itachi said, looking up to the sky. _

"…_What do you see?" Sasuke asked, following his gaze. It all just looked black to him. _

"_They're waiting for you Sasuke." Itachi said, as he started to fade into the darkness. No, Sasuke had lost Naruto far too many times to the darkness. _

"_Aniki!" he yelled, stumbling forward into the darkness. "Aniki, no, __**wait**__!" _

"_You will be here with us someday Sasuke, but not now. Go back to him and your child." Itachi smiled softly at him._

Something clamped around Sasuke's hand, but he couldn't even open his eyes to see what it was before the lack of oxygen over took his mind. He couldn't feel the hand around his wrist for a split second, and then everything that was heavy like sand around him disappeared and he was floating; no water, no one, no air, no nothing. And then his mind went blank.

XXX

"Tsunade, do something!" Naruto screamed, dragging Sasuke out of the water, shaking the droplets from his eyes and trying to get as much visibility as he could over the Kyuubi tearing through his head. He stumbled, wrapping himself around Sasuke to protect him from the fall even though he knew it was just a few feet to the ground, but something grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping his fall and yanking him back up.

Sasuke was ripped from his arms, and he lashed out instinctively, only stopping when someone caught his fist.

"Naruto, it's just me! It's just Tsunade! I'm just going to try and wake Sasuke up!"

Naruto let his fist drop, stumbling back and closing his eyes until he managed to force the Kyuubi back into the blackest corners of his mind until he could barely hear the fox.

And then he opened his eyes.

Tsunade was working frantically around Sasuke, and everything was moving, the trees, the wind, the water, the people, the fires, the collapsing cliffs, the chakra… everything.

Except Sasuke.

His eyes were closed as calmly as if he were sleeping. His arms were limp by his side, his fingers lax. Water dripped down his cheeks and stuck to his eyelashes. And nothing about him was moving. His chest was motionless, not unmoving as if he just wasn't breathing. His chest was absolutely still, like his heart wasn't beating.

Naruto had watched people die on ANBU missions, sat with them to keep them calm and safe until they passed. He had watched countless times as their chests slowed to just a barely noticeable rise and fall after they stopped breathing, undetectable to anyone without ANBU training or the Kyuubi's senses, and it was just their hearts moving in their chests, and then he had watched their chests fall still, leaving their bodies completely motionless.

Gone.

"…I wasn't strong enough…" his tongue was moving, but he couldn't feel the words. This wasn't happening. His body was trying to shut his mind out of the world to hide him and his eyes wouldn't close; his eyes wouldn't cut off the last connection.

"Naruto?" Tsunade turned to him, her hands still fluttering over Sasuke's inanimate chest, trying to do something.

Gone.

Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from the black-haired Uchiha. The last Uchiha. The one who had fought for him.

The one who had died for him.

…The one who had died **because** of him.

"…I killed him."

Dead.

Sasuke was dead.

**Dead**.

Naruto knew he should be the one with Tsunade's horror on his face, but he couldn't move. It didn't feel real, and yet… everything was pointing to just that.

"You did not do this! **And he isn't dead yet**!" Tsunade screamed, fury overtaking her voice. "If you die Uchiha, and cause him even more pain… I swear to god…" she hissed beneath her breath.

The sand whirled up beside Naruto, parting to reveal Gaara of the Desert. Neji was in the hospital now, but Gaara had to see if Naruto was safe.

His eyes narrowed, real sympathy for Naruto shooting through his every breath at what he saw. The Uchiha was lying there on the ground, Tsunade working frantically over him, his body completely inanimate.

Naruto didn't look like it had sunk in, or if it had in his brain then his body wasn't connecting or believing it.

His eyes snapped to the right as Naruto's chakra spiked sharply, and then the blonde disappeared in a flash of red chakra. Gaara bit into his tongue, unable to even fathom how he would act if it were Neji lying on the ground. If sealing him had killed Neji, he would have wanted to die, because it would have been like he had killed him, not the demon, and he knew that was exactly what Naruto was feeling. Every person he'd hurt, house he'd destroyed and enemy he'd slaughtered was like murder because he had no control over it. And now Sasuke was dead, and to Naruto, he was the one who had murdered him.

Tsunade whipped around to gauge how Naruto was, her head swiveling frantically when he wasn't there. She had been so wrapped up in Sasuke that she hadn't even sensed him leave.

"Where did he go?" she demanded, glaring into Gaara's blank eyes. She didn't know if it was being a jinchuuriki that made them quirky, but both her brat and Gaara handled things very differently then most people, and death was something that Naruto didn't handle especially well, even if he was killing an enemy.

"…He needed to be alone." Gaara said simply, staring straight back, unblinkingly into her eyes.

Tsunade snarled, whirling back to Sasuke and continuing to pump her chakra into him. This boy had saved the village, resealed the Kyuubi and saved her brat. "**You're** dying over **my** dead body."

XXX

Naruto flew through the forest he didn't know, trees he didn't recognize, and over branches it seemed he'd never seen, his eyes blurred with tears and his breathing ragged and tearing his chest apart. He was dizzy from hyperventilating and the lack of oxygen, he couldn't see from the burning tears scorching as they ran down his cheeks, and he was numb. So numb he couldn't feel the trees he smashed into because he couldn't see them until they were only a few feet away. The Kyuubi was ripping at his mind for its lost freedom, his head pounding so hard he couldn't keep his balance, and the only thing his body could do was run. He didn't think he would have been able to stop even if he wanted to. He could hear the words pouring from his mouth, but somehow he wasn't even sure if it was him speaking.

"Please!" he cried, clutching at his head and shaking it frantically. "Please don't do this to me! Please, this can't be happening!"

All he could see was Sasuke lying there on the ground, water dripping from his clothes and clinging to his closed eyes, his body cold and his chest completely still from the motionless heart inside of it.

Naruto stumbled, smashing into another tree trunk and stopping there, his legs unable to move forward any more as he leaned into the hard, cold bark and pressed his hands over his eyes, the scream never ceasing to leave his lips.

"This can't be happening!" he sobbed, his teeth clenched in an effort to keep his mouth open so he could breathe. "Please don't do this to me! You've already taken my parents, my home, pushed my friends and teachers away… please don't take him! You can't take him too! You can't!"

Naruto choked on another strangled sob tumbling from his mouth and slumped down on the branch, shaking his head as the tears blazed down his cheeks, the image of Sasuke lying there still burning behind his eyes.

"Please don't leave me." he heard himself begging, even though he knew it was futile, but Sasuke's body lying there wouldn't leave his mind. "Not you too. Please not you too. I can't do this without you, the council, the fox, **I can't do it alone**!"

One of Naruto's arms moved to encircle his stomach as a particularly vicious kick made him choke on another sob. The baby had been frantically kicking ever since his mind accepted that Sasuke's heart wasn't beating, but he hadn't been able to feel it at all though he knew it should have been painful.

Naruto's eyes snapped open suddenly as he stared down at his stomach, and then he whirled and lunged forward, rocketing himself back to the Valley of End.

XXX

Tsunade was gasping at the rate of the chakra she was pumping into the Uchiha's chest, already getting dizzy from how fast she was draining it from her body, and still Sasuke's life force was flickering and growing smaller by the second. It was like a flame, a little spark that had no oxygen. Sasuke already had no pulse, if he completely lost his chakra force—no! She wouldn't let that happen, she wouldn't do that to her brat! With that she sucked in another breath and painfully forced more chakra out of her hands when a hand suddenly grabbed her sleeve and forcibly yanked her to the side. In an instant she was braced to fight the person keeping her from saving her brat's Uchiha until she recognized Naruto crouched beside him.

Naruto growled, his fangs poking out over his lip, and grabbed Sasuke's shirt, yanking him up to his eye level.

"You never let me give up even once," he snarled, "so the hell if you think I'm going to let you."

The was a round of gasps as Naruto reared his head back and sank his fangs into Sasuke's neck right at the spot where the Kyuubi had marked him almost a year ago. Everyone but Gaara, who knew a jinchuuriki's powers, was sharing glances, wondering if Naruto had lost it to the fox's presence again.

Gaara had figured out that Naruto's and the Kyuubi's souls had merged. That meant that the Kyuubi could never be totally sealed again and they could never be separated. Naruto would have to periodically seal the fox again every year or so or it would try to take over again.

Naruto groaned and clenched every muscle that he had, forcing his and the Kyuubi's chakra into Sasuke and Tsunade could only watch in amazement as Sasuke' chakra started to flare up again like a roaring fire.

_XXX_

_It was black again. The darkness was swallowing him whole, and this time, he couldn't wake up._

_There was no point in trying to. Itachi had stopped fading long ago, and was becoming more visible by the second. If there had been a chance that he wasn't going to die a few seconds ago, it was gone now._

"_I can't leave Aniki." His voice echoed through the darkness. "I'm here too now, just like you."_

_Itachi nodded slowly. "I understand how you will see that. Do you not remember that I said the light blinded you, and it will be harder for you to see the light after it has gone?"_

_Sasuke blinked. "Aniki, that was… a dream…"_

"_I have used the Sharingan a few times to revisit your world Sasuke. I will understand if you do not believe me, but it is because of our connections between the Sharingan and being brothers that I am able to revisit your world through your mind."_

"…_It's not my world anymore." Sasuke looked toward the black ground._

"_Sasuke, I would love to take you with me, but there's someone fighting for you right now. Even if you can't feel them, I can."_

"…_Who?" Sasuke looked up, but Itachi was gone. "Aniki?" his eyes grew wide in his franticness. "Aniki!"_

_The darkness._

_It wasn't worth it to fight the darkness again._

_Sasuke closed his eyes and started to let his mind go blank as he could feel himself being sucked into the darkness, swallowing him whole. It was calming for once, peaceful. Sasuke sighed and leaned his head back, letting go of himself. He would follow Itachi, and he would see everyone again._

"_Wake up." _

…_Naruto? Sasuke opened his eyes slowly and looked around._

"_I mean it. Wake the __**hell**__ up!" _

"…_Naruto?" _

"_You never let me even think about wanting to die or give up, so __**wake the fuck up**__!" _

_Sasuke turned to a small flickering light in the distance that was slowly growing bigger, pulling him towards it, sucking him into the light. _

"_Naruto?" Sasuke's brow furrowed in confusion as a flame bubbled out of the light, and shifted, morphing into the golden hair and the tanned body of Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde held out his hand, gently coaxing, but Sasuke could sense that there was no option for him to say no just from looking at Naruto's stance._

"_Come on Sasuke, we have to go, you're coming back with me. I'm not letting you go." _

"…_Go back Dobe, you don't belong here. It's not your time." Sasuke said firmly, turning back to the darkness._

"_If you take one more step I __**swear**__ I will follow you." Naruto threatened. "Now is as good as any to die."_

_Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he turned to face Naruto. "My time is up Dobe. I saw Itachi."_

"_He came back, right?" Naruto said smugly. "That means you haven't passed on yet."_

"_You're going to die and force the baby to die with you? You're going to leave everyone who's waiting for you to come out of my mind?" Sasuke snapped, not in the mood to deal with Naruto's stubborn, hard-headedness._

"_You're going to leave me?"_

_Sasuke stiffened at Naruto's blank expression._

"_You're going to make me raise this baby all alone? With the council and the Kyuubi breathing down my neck? You sealed the fox but it's still part of my soul, it isn't gone. You're going to make me watch as you walk into the darkness and follow Itachi? You're going to make me live alone without you? You're going to make me go back to the huge compound all by myself? You might be able to do it, but I can't. You have to come back with me."_

"_I can't even see the way out Usuratonkachi." Sasuke snapped._

_Naruto smirked gently. "It's alright, I can see it. Come on. Right now." Naruto stretched out his hand again._

_Sasuke stared at it, looking back over his shoulder to Itachi, standing like a statue, waiting for what he was going to do._

"_Don't make me walk to you to drag you back Sasuke." Naruto warned. "You have the option to stay in this world between the living and afterlife because of the Sharingan, but if I take another step I wont be able to go back."_

_Sasuke looked back to Naruto, and then over his shoulder again to Itachi in the distance, the darkness surrounding him._

"_Go back Sasuke." Itachi said. "Now is not your time."_

_Sasuke bit his lip unsurely._

"_I will see you soon enough little brother." Itachi smiled gently before nodding his head to Naruto. "Now go, before you run out of time."_

_Sasuke looked back just in time to see Naruto lift his foot to take that step forward._

"_Stop Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke snarled, stepping toward Naruto. "I'm coming already." He reached out and placed his hand in Naruto's._

Sasuke opened eyes to Naruto staring back at him, completely terrified. Sasuke blinked, trying to remember why Naruto would look so scared. The Kyuubi was sealed away again, so why…?

Oh yeah.

Naruto snapped his fingers twice in front of his eyes, and Sasuke automatically blinked out of reflex.

"…S-Sasuke?" Naruto asked warily, watching for his reaction.

Sasuke grabbed his front and yanked him down. "Usuratonkachi." He said before slamming his lips against Naruto's.

"I'm so sorry Sasuke." Naruto choked out, tears pooling in his eyes, startling Sasuke at the complete 180 Naruto did. "I'm so sorry, first the kidnapping and then… and I couldn't stop it… fuck, I couldn't even stop the fox from almost **killing**—"

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped grabbing his cheeks and held his mouth closed. "None of this is your fault." Sasuke swallowed, running his thumb over Naruto's cheek before he took a deep breath and spit out, "It was my fault Usuratonkachi. The Kyuubi did this—all of it—because of me. It's a demon, they don't distinguish between humans unless they're jinchuuriki and to the Kyuubi… I was basically Madara Uchiha. **None** of this is your fault," Sasuke snarled, furious at himself for putting Naruto through this, "it was all my—"

Sasuke jumped as Naruto placed two fingers over his lips, effectively shutting him up. Sasuke looked up to find Naruto smiling at him, and the blonde moved his hand from Sasuke's lips to take his cheek.

"Even if the Kyuubi thought that… I never did." Naruto whispered, leaning in to kiss the raven again. Sasuke sighed into Naruto's lips, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around the blonde.

There, I didn't kill him, now no one can hate me!

Read, Rate and Review! Cookies to all who stuck with me!

Thanks, all! Next chapter (and last unless people want an epilogue) coming soon!


	28. Who Said It Was Impossible?

I don't own anything but my ideas.

Who Said It Was Impossible?

Two Months Later

Sasuke stepped out of the trees, looking around him as he reached out with his chakra. His black ANBU armor was still practically roasting him alive in the hot sun, but this time, a Konoha ANBU tattoo caught the sun too as he walked. He hadn't actually believed that Tsunade would be able to convince the council to put him on an ANBU team, but for him to be placed as the team captain made him almost admire Tsunade. Then again, it was probably because the council now knew about him, Naruto and the baby, and they were afraid Naruto would go ballistic on them if they were "discriminating" against him because he was an Uchiha.

Sasuke couldn't help the small tug at the corners of his lips as he spotted Naruto perched on the top of one of the Hokage's heads, his arms resting on his knees as he looked out over the leaf village. Sasuke wasn't entirely sure how it was possible to sit that way, being nine months pregnant, but after Naruto had literally brought him back from the dead and Sasuke had literally defeated the nine-tailed fox, neither one really doubted that the other couldn't do anything anymore.

He disappeared in a flash to reappear by Naruto's side, but the blonde didn't even flinch, having sensed his chakra from about a mile away. Though the Kyuubi had again been sealed and the only thing Naruto felt from him was the occasional headache from a tantrum, because their souls had merged, the fox's chakra was still essentially Naruto's, along with the Kyuubi's hyper senses leaching into Naruto's body.

"How's Gaara doing?" Sasuke asked casually, looking out over the village.

A small smile crept onto Naruto's face. "It's a girl, two months along." he said, almost proudly. "He sent me a message after they did the ultrasound yesterday, Tsunade let Neji go so he could be there."

"The Shukaku thinks the baby is safe enough? I mean, the fox wouldn't let the ultrasound technician go near ours." Sasuke didn't think he would ever get tired of hearing that.

Their baby.

"Eh… more like the Shukaku just doesn't care." Naruto shrugged. Sasuke sat as Naruto looked up at him and Naruto immediately scooted closer, not without difficulty because of his size, and leaned against Sasuke's shoulder.

"Gaara wants him and Neji to… come out, you know? I don't think he likes hiding anything from Suna," Naruto said, turning so he could burry his face in Sasuke's neck. Sasuke sighed and leaned back into Naruto. Two weeks was short for an ANBU mission, but it still felt like forever to be apart from Naruto, especially after how many years they had been apart from each other after Sasuke and then Naruto had left Konoha.

Sasuke was captain in his ANBU team (everyone else, Tenten, Sakura, Lee, Kiba, Hinata, Choji, Shino and Ino had all passed the Jounin exams by now), and usually Naruto was with him, Neji, Sai and Shikamaru and a few others, but as of late Tsunade had been forcing Naruto not to go because she was afraid it would make him have a miscarriage, especially after what had happened two months ago with the Kyuubi. She was still partly shocked that the Kyuubi hadn't killed the baby just to hurt Naruto and Sasuke as much as it could.

"You know, the wedding's today." Sasuke reminded him after a moment of silence.

"They moved it closer again?" Naruto asked in surprise, looking up at him. Sasuke nodded and moved closer to Naruto, instantly missing the Dobe's warmth on his neck.

Hinata and Kiba had eloped about two months back when Hinata's five-month pregnancy became too obvious for her to hide it and pretend that she was still fine with the arranged marriage that her father had set up for her.

Naruto and Sasuke had visited every weekend over the past two months, and other people visited during the week to make sure that they had all of the food and everything else that they needed. Hinata had just last week given birth two months premature, scaring the hell out of everyone, but their son, who they named Rikiya, couldn't be and stronger or healthier.

Three days after Rikiya had been born, Hinata and Kiba had returned to Konoha, making it too late for her father to hide anything. Reluctantly he'd agreed to the wedding. He wasn't **happy**, per se, but he was accepting and had given them his blessing for the wedding. Hinata was going to be the next head of the family after all. Though she still stuttered like hell, her strength had obviously built up over the years. One thing she absolutely refused to do was to brand anyone else born into the family. She and Neji were close, especially since Neji trusted her with their secret about Gaara, and she put her foot down at the thought of branding her niece. Her father was again mad, but he understood why and eventually let her decide because she needed to start making decisions for the Hyuuga family.

"When?" Naruto asked, leaning back into Sasuke.

"Three." He answered automatically.

"OH SHIT!" Naruto shouted, leaping up and cracking Sasuke in the cheek with his head.

"OW! **Fuck, **Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke barked, pressing his hand to his throbbing face when Naruto grabbed his hand and yanked him up.

"Its two forty-five now, dumbass!" Naruto shouted and latched onto both of Sasuke's arms. His chakra spiked for a split second and then there was nothing where they had been standing.

XXX

Sasuke stood in the back along with the rest of the ninjas at the wedding, the seats upfront reserved for the Hyuuga family, who oddly still looked happy about the marriage even though it wasn't an "ideal" choice. Naruto was leaning against his arm, and that in and of itself almost made the wedding worth going to because the Dobe had decided to stick them both in tuxedos. He yanked again at the too-tight collar, only to have Naruto smack his hand away from it again.

He turned tiredly as the music started playing and Hinata appeared at the end of the isle, dressed head to toe in simple white Hyuuga robes. Kiba stood by the altar, also wearing nothing special aside from completely black ninja garb.

Hinata's father passed her off to Kiba at the altar and Sasuke quietly tuned out the rest of the ceremony, jolted back out of his stupor as Naruto jerked him to clap as they kissed.

_Finally._ He thought with a sigh, clapping halfheartedly. _When Naruto and I… well, it will __**not**__ be that long. _Again, he couldn't stop the small smirk on his face. He couldn't wait for the Dobe's face later.

People started to slowly quiet as neither Kiba nor Hinata made a move to leave the altar, and instead just leaned in to speak quietly to each other. After a minute or two, they turned back to the crowd, holding each other's hands.

"W-we want t-to thank… e-everyone for being here." Hinata blushed as all eyes were on her, but didn't stop talking to Sasuke's surprise. "K-Kiba and I have picked N-Neji as Rikiya's godfather…"

"And Shikamaru as his godmother!" Kiba finished with a huge grin. Immediately the whole crowd erupted in laugher, all turning to Shikamaru, who was leaning against a tree at the very back of the ceremony.

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Great." he muttered and everyone laughed again.

Sasuke sighed, waiting for Naruto for what seemed like eight hours as the blonde chattered away happily with the newlyweds, whose hands were still tightly entwined. Sasuke had never seen Hinata blushing for this long before, just as he had never seen Kiba look so proud. He turned, looking for someone he could at least stand by so he wouldn't look too awkward, Shikamaru catching his gaze.

Someone had apparently passed Rikiya to him while everyone was talking to Kiba and Hinata. The lazy ninja stood holding the infant with one arm, playing with him as the baby held one of his fingers. He didn't seem to look like he minded the title or duty so much anymore.

Later

Naruto sighed happily, stretching his hands over his head and yawning like an ape as he walked through the door of the Uchiha compound, Sasuke right behind him, who shut the door.

"That was great!" Naruto sighed, scratching his head and reaching into the cabinet to take out a huge jar of wasabi and a huge bottle of soy sauce.

As Naruto walked around the kitchen, Sasuke couldn't help but follow his huge stomach with his eyes. Tsunade had even stolen Naruto's ninja clothes and ANBU outfit one night to keep him from trying to sneak out on a mission, and so Naruto was forced to wear a maternity shirt that was "As bloody fucking gender-neutral as fucking possible", as the Dobe had put it. Actually, if Sasuke remembered correctly, the Dobe was at his throat, shaking him by his collar the morning he discovered all of his ninja clothes were gone, threatening that he would cut off his balls if he brought home a maternity dress. Naruto was so huge now at nine months that he was even doing the telltale sign of nearing birth. Otherwise known as leaning back at a thirty-degree angle all the time with their hands on their hips so the weight of their stomachs didn't tip them over on their faces.

Sasuke took a deep breath and pulled the small box out of his pocket. He wouldn't kneel and he wasn't taking Naruto out to dinner, as he knew the blonde would not appreciate either if it was for any reason other than to get on his knees to blow Naruto or going out to dinner to spend time with him.

Simplicity was good.

…Not that that past months had been simple, in any way whatsoever.

"Naruto."

"Umhmph?" Naruto turned around and swallowed his wasabi and soy sauce, holding a huge bowl in his hands. "Yea Sasuke?"

Sasuke leaned in to peck Naruto lightly on his lips and stepped in close to Naruto so he could feel the baby kicking against his own stomach.

Naruto turned his head away quickly. "Sasuke, I'm eating! Later, ok?" he seemed apologetic, and it took Sasuke a second to realize what he was apologizing for. "I just want to finish this, and then when the ANBU stop tailing us later tonight, maybe even in the bath we can—"

_Oh._ Whoops, Sasuke hadn't meant to step **that** close.

"Naruto, I didn't mean that, I was just…" he reached down and pressed one hand to Naruto's stomach, smiling back at the blonde's huge smirk. "Here." He said finally, handing Naruto the small box.

"…Can you open it?" Naruto asked after a moment after struggling to open the box with one hand, unwilling to put down his precious wasabi and soy sauce so he could use both hands.

Sasuke nodded and took the box back, opening it—and taking one last deep breath—before he turned it around to show Naruto.

The bowl tumbled out of Naruto's hand, smashing on the ground and splattering both of their shins with the salty-spicy concoction as Naruto gaped and Sasuke grimaced at the stuff all over his pants.

"Oh my god."

XXX

Gaara was sitting quietly at his desk with Temari and Kankuro at his side waiting for their next missions, when the slowly approaching sound of a stampede caused all of them to look up.

"What the…?" Kankuro looked toward the right side of the main building, where the sound was coming from.

Temari stood up slowly and slid open her fan as a continuous scream could be heard with the approaching thundering.

"That sounds like…" Kankuro trailed off, standing up next to Temari, and the screaming and stampede rocketed down the hallway, smashed through the door so fast that neither Kankuro nor Temari could even see what it was, and collided with Gaara so fast that his sand couldn't stop it, sending the Kazekage and the thing hurtling out of the window and into the streets of Suna with a thunderous crash and glass fragments raining down on the street.

"Gaara!" they screamed at the same time, racing to the window to look down at the clearing smoke in the street three stories below where all the people of Suna had gathered to see what the hell it was.

The dust blew away with the wind, revealing Gaara lying on his gourd—which had been turned to sand to protect him from the fall—and Naruto flopped on top of him, nearly throttling him in a death hug.

"NARUTO!"

Temari and Kankuro turned back to the next fast approaching voice, not even bothering to arm themselves as they recognized the voice.

"IDIOT!" Sasuke roared, careening into the tower and skidding up to the edge of the demolished wall, looking furiously down at Naruto. "SLOW THE HELL DOWN AND SHUT UP BEFORE YOU WAKE THE WHOLE DAMN COUNTRY!"

"…You **ran** all the way here?" Gaara grumbled in annoyance and disbelief. The only response he got from Naruto was a strangled squeak. Naruto's damn forearm protectors were about to take his head clean off in the blonde's hug.

Gaara's sand whirled up and pried Naruto off of him, setting him far enough away on the ground to keep him from tackling Gaara again while he dusted himself off.

"What is it this time?" he grumbled, bracing himself for whatever in seven hells Naruto had brought with him.

Naruto was quivering head to toe he was so excited, and the Uchiha looked like he was getting ready to take Naruto out if he lost control to boot.

If this wasn't at least half way worth his time, Gaara was going to kill someone.

He blinked, catching sight of something glinting on—

And then he finally recognized the object. A gold band on Naruto's ring finger was catching the light oddly just like the golden of Naruto's hair. No wonder the Uchiha looked slightly embarrassed.

…

"I'd better be invited to the wedding." Gaara said finally, crossing his arms. Naruto nodded wildly; only able to get out another strangled squeak in response as he literally bounced up and down where he was standing.

One Week Later

Sasuke appeared in a flash in the middle of the hospital waiting room, making everyone around him jump a foot from the smoke and from how mast he moved as he tore his mask of his face and grabbed the arm of the nearest nurse. She just about screamed from the expression on his face.

_Note to self: do not run all the way to Konoha after an exerting ANBU mission again, unless Naruto is actually fucking __**dying**__. _Somehow Sasuke managed to choke out around his labored breathing, "Which room is Naruto Uchiha—"

"**NARUTO**!"

Everyone, including Sasuke, jumped again at the scream that nearly shook the entire hospital coming from behind one of the doors labeled, "Maternity". Only one female aside from Sakura Haruno—as far as Sasuke knew—could almost damage the foundation of a building with a scream. Godaime Hokage Tsunade.

"**You need to calm down before you hurt the baby and yourself**!"

"**I AM CALM**—**ahh**!** FUCK that hurts**!"

…Well, if the Dobe was screaming, he was ok. Oddly, the scream gave Sasuke more relief than the last sentence of the note sent to him when the ANBU team was on its was home from the ANBU mission.

_Naruto's in labor. He's fine._

_Tsunade_

Fine. Sasuke scoffed. If Naruto was anything less than moronic, he was **not** fine.

In order for Sasuke to be able to leave on the ANBU mission one week earlier, Tsunade had called him in to her office and threatened that if he did not sit through and obey this lecture, she would demote him to the rank of Genin again and never let him even see another ANBU. (He doubted this, but wasn't very much in the mood to push her buttons at the time)

She had then proceeded to tell him—very slowly and with far too many words—that when Naruto's water broke, he would have to immediately be rushed into an emergency C-section. The fluids would have no escape from his body because Naruto didn't have a vaginal opening, so in order to not kill the baby and hurt Naruto they would have to birth the baby as fast as possible. Therefore, Sasuke might not be able to see him right away and if he attacked anyone or freaked out at all, there would be **hell** to pay.

Sasuke took a step for the door and almost immediately, four nurses and doctors were standing in his way, pushing him back. Instinct told Sasuke to kill. They were keeping Naruto away from him and he was in pain, fuck what Tsunade said.

"Uchiha! We need you to listen! They're taking your husband to an operating room, the only reason he's in pain is because his body is going through contractions and he's not physically supposed to be able to have them."

He tried to grab one of their hands off his arm, but again, someone's hand clamped over his, forcing him still. Every other family member and friend in the waiting room had slowly been inching away from the mob of ninjas with hands flying, all shuffling Sasuke slowly backwards and away from the doors.

"He will be fine once they do the C-section." Someone else reassured him, pushing him another step back.

It was **amazing** how strong of an urge he had to deck her, and it didn't help in the slightest when Tsunade burst through the doors dressed in surgical gowns and surrounded by other surgeons and wheeled Naruto away on a gurney, all the while Naruto griping about how he could walk, goddamnit!

What if something went wrong? What if the fox had been waiting until Naruto was sliced open under the knife to kill him? What if the fox's chakra came back while Naruto was drugged and numbed and no one could stop it? He wasn't there. He couldn't be there for Naruto if anything went wrong.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and ground his teeth together as the people bogging him down finally moved away now that Tsunade and Naruto were out of sight.

He didn't know a thing about giving birth. Let alone a **guy** giving birth. Despite Tsunade's past uselessness, Sasuke would have to trust her. He didn't have a choice.

Later

Sasuke stood and moved over to the door Naruto was behind in the recovery section of the hospital, acting as calmly as he could so Tsunade didn't have any reason to tell him he couldn't see Naruto. She would just to spite him too for freaking out her hospital staff earlier.

The room was lit by a warm light, which only helped to light up Naruto's groggy smile more as he rolled his head lazily over to the sound of the door opening. Sasuke smirked back and quickly closed the door and locked it so Tsunade wouldn't barge in. He'd had enough of her today.

Just as he'd predicted, not two steps away from the door someone grabbed the door handle and jiggled it a few times. They then proceeded to shake the entire door when they realized it was locked.

"NO SEX!" Tsunade screamed through the wood. Sasuke grimaced and Naruto snorted, his head rolling slowly back into place as he looked up at the ceiling.

Sasuke stepped over to the bed and touched one of Naruto's hands with his fingers as Naruto stretched again and the blanket slipped off of his stomach. It was strange to see his middle so flat again, but what was almost (almost, mind you) stranger was the scar from the surgery and the stretch marks across Naruto's middle that were healing literally right before his eyes.

He looked up and blinked at Naruto's smug smirk, following Naruto's gesture when the blonde nodded to the other side of the room. His couldn't stop his eyes from popping and Naruto snorted again because of it. At the end of the bed, two hospital bassinets were placed evenly apart, the blankets inside them moving slightly.

"Yeah, that was granny's response when she had to take them both out too."

Sasuke looked warily back to Naruto, who nodded happily, before walking over to the end of the bed. Suddenly, for some reason, the ANBU instincts were kicking in and he found himself trying not to make a single sound as he walked.

He leaned over carefully, moving one and then both of the blankets to see the babies' faces. Both looked identical, and he wondered if he looked like that when he was born. Their pale skin and jet-black hair were clearly from Uchiha genes. Actually, it seemed the only things different about them were the different colored bands tied on their wrists; the closer one to him being pink while the other was blue. The name tags on the ends of the bassinets read, "Anju Uchiha" and "Reiji Uchiha". Anju had been his choice, which meant honor or shine, just as a sort of last respects to his family. Reiji meant courteous child, and Sasuke had this inkling that somehow, because the baby was Naruto's child, if they named him "courteous" he would grow up to be the exact opposite, but Naruto had liked the name, so…

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked from the bed, stretching again, his voice gravely from the anesthesia. "That thing that Shikamaru is, the things that Hinata and Kiba picked Neji and him to be…"

"Godparents?"

"What are those?"

Sasuke sat on the foot of the bed as he thought of how to answer, unable to look away from the two tiny infants next to him. God, they were **tiny**.

"For religion, it was someone who would teach the religion to the child if something happened to the parents."

Naruto blinked. "But Kiba's not religious."

Sasuke turned back to Naruto, placing his leg so it touched Naruto's. "It can just be someone who would take care of the baby too if something happened to the parents, like…" he tried to think of a comparison, "like how Iruka used to take care of you, and teach you at school, and then take you out to eat. Just a sort of role model that can be a parent away from home."

"Oh. Do we have to pick godparents?"

"We don't have to, but it's a good idea what with us both being ANBU and hated by the council." _And with my luck, if we died Tsunade would take them if we didn't have godparents picked. _

"And it can be anyone?"

Sasuke nodded, moving to stand up from the bed.

"I want Gaara then."

Sasuke's foot landed badly on the floor as he barked out, "What?" and somehow he managed a half-pirouette before his foot slipped again and sent him crashing to the floor. Sasuke shook his head before his eyes snapped back up to Naruto, who was glaring dryly down at him.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked vapidly.

"Gaara?" Sasuke repeated in disbelief.

"You know Sasuke, he's not diseased. Though you seem to think otherwise."

"Naruto, he's—!"

"He's my best friend and the one who took me in when I left Konoha. He's also a jinchuuriki and now he's pregnant too. I can't think of any reason not to have him."

_He's __**deranged**__! _Sasuke's mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times before he finally closed it with a growl. _Stubborn. Usuratonkachi._ Damn Dobe wouldn't give in. Sasuke could tell that by the cold look in his eyes.

"…And I think Sakura will be good." He said finally, and thankfully Naruto nodded happily. At least there was a chance the redhead freak wouldn't take his kids in if they did die. Not that they would die. Sasuke was pretty sure it was impossible for at least Naruto to die with the Kyuubi's soul merged with his own.

Sasuke knew she would love this, and he immediately started bracing himself for her ecstatic reaction when he told her. Sakura had very recently married Lee once she finally got it in her head that she wouldn't never win Sasuke, and was now pregnant with their baby. The couple had already eagerly picked Wakaba if the baby was a girl, which meant young leaf. (Note: I couldn't resist naming her something with young in it because of Lee. Lol) Sai and Ino had also recently gotten married. The two, Sasuke had found out after the chaos with the Kyuubi had died down, had already been dating for a while because Ino hated not having a boyfriend even if it wasn't Sasuke. Apparently she hadn't meant to get that close to Sai and it was just sex, but then they had married after she fell for him and got pregnant.

Sasuke picked himself off the ground and sat back down on the bed. Another quick glance at Naruto's middle showed that the scars looked years old now, and he knew by tomorrow they would be completely gone. His fingers drifted up to the fang marks on his neck again but Naruto grabbed his wrists, keeping him from touching it.

"The Kyuubi's gone." He whispered, leaning it. Sasuke smirked and let his hand thread itself into Naruto's hair as he met his lips with his own, pushing Naruto back so the blonde could rest.

"No sex." Naruto repeated as Sasuke lay down next to him, his voice laced with humor.

"Shut up Dobe."

Sasuke pulled Naruto into his chest, finally letting himself relax when he felt Naruto's breathing even out against him.

He couldn't help but smirk with Naruto so calm, pulled up against him.

For once, the Dobe was right.

The Kyuubi was gone.

The End

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It's over… Imma go cry now ~_~, *sniff*

What did everyone think?

And does everyone want an epilogue? You better review if you want one~


	29. AN

All right, I ignored it the first time because this reviewer was a pussy and couldn't even leave a name, but two times is enough. Who's the fucktard who left **another** anonymous porn review? So deleting it once wasn't enough, you decided to waste more of my time and write **three paragraphs** worth of rape porn just so I could delete it? That isn't even really the part that bothers me, as disturbing as you hitting on random strangers without even knowing who they are or what their gender is, what bothers me is that you were too much of a pussy to leave your name. So you're a computer geek—who obviously can't get laid if what you wrote is any indication—you read my **entire** story, leave **two** porn reviews that you know I'm just going to delete, and you don't even have the balls to do it to my face. Have you absolutely no life that you have the time to do that? Grow up, and if what you wrote "reflects an author's inner wish", then I pity anyone who ever had to have the displeasure of meeting you, or even just had to be around you. Grow a pair and actually confront me with your name the next time your stalker, rapist personality decides to dirty my presence again.

On a happier note, the epilogue is almost done ^^ So I'm sorry to those of you who thought this would be the epilogue, but it is coming soon!


	30. Epilogue

I don't own anything but my ideas.

**WARNING! POMEGRANATE! (YEAH! FINALLY!)**

16 Years Later

Well, all in all, Sasuke had to say that for the last sixteen years—considering he had to raise **Naruto's** children—were fairly quiet. The Kyuubi had been resealed inside of Naruto on the twin's fourteenth birthday when Naruto had nearly passed out from a solar storm in his head, which was what he and Naruto called the Kyuubi's temper tantrums from being resealed in the blonde in the first place. The Kyuubi was usually quiet, but every once and a while too much anger and pent up frustration from zero access to the outside world would set him on a rampage in Naruto's head. Normally, these solar storms only gave Naruto a headache—a migraine at the worst—but two years ago he'd nearly lost it again and they had to call everyone with enough power in the village to reseal him. Naturally, him nearly passing out had made Sasuke extremely close to giving himself an aneurysm, but the poor twins nearly went on rampages themselves—having no previous contact with the demon fox except for stories people told them. Sasuke couldn't even begin to explain how thankful he was that neither of the twins had ever met the Kyuubi.

Sixteen years was a lot of time for things to happen with Konoha's number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja around. Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka **and** Gai were all acting as grandparents for Anju and Reiji, though Sasuke couldn't really say that he liked Kakashi or Gai being too close to his family. He would pop a blood vessel if either of his kids became perverted like Kakashi, and he **swore** he would kill someone if either of them became in any way like Gai. Legit swore, and it would probably be Gai's head that he put a kunai through, and he knew already that he wouldn't enjoy it.

Wakaba (which means young leaf), Lee and Sakura's only daughter and the twin's god sister, had just turned fifteen along with Aya (design or paint), Sai and Ino's son, and Kotori (bird of luck), Neji and Gaara's only daughter. Wakaba had—thank god— only inherited her father's black hair, and not his eyebrows. She was a healer like Sakura, but she was also crazy about youth—if not as loud about it—like Lee. Reiji and Rikiya's nickname for her the Exercise Junkie. Sai and Ino's daughter, Murasaki (purple) would be turning eight in a few months. Rikiya (strong one), Kiba and Hinata's oldest and the oldest of the children, had recently turned seventeen, and their other son Ran (rim, shield and wolf) was turning nine in a few days. During the first five years after Naruto had given birth to the twins, he'd taught a group of younger children the basic ninja techniques to help kids who had trouble in certain areas like he used to with clones before they had to be tested in it in the academy. During this time, he'd taught almost every one of their friends' children before returning to the ANBU when their twins were six, and Rikiya had called him sensei since, even though he hadn't taught any of them in over ten years. It was clear that Rikiya had a lot of respect for Naruto, much like Naruto had for Kakashi.

But presently—cutting away from the children for a moment—Sasuke was again flying through the hospital. He was a blur by the hospital staff, who had to look twice to make sure something had actually gone by them, when all of a sudden a foot appeared in front of him too fast for him to register, caught his ankle, and sent him crashing face-first into the floor.

Sasuke fucking Uchiha, ANBU team leader, was face fucking first flat on the ground.

Needless to say, **this** caused a lot of eye-popping and head turning.

Sasuke's head snapped up, turning to glare at whoever tripped him—**tripped** him—with enough force to burn through their head, only for his scowl to turn darker when he was met with a smug grin, unaffected by his glare. Even after years of being with him, even Naruto still flinched at his darkest glares. Sasuke was almost positive that this person and Kakashi were the only people who weren't affected by his glares. And this only ticked him off more because he was still flat on the fucking ground with everyone staring.

"He's ok Dad, relax." Reiji smirked, his arms crossed and his head tipped cockily.

"Paranoid." Anju muttered in an almost annoyed manner. She was pointedly looking away, obviously embarrassed that her ANBU father had actually been able to be tripped, and not ecstatic like her brother. "It's not like he died, he's an ANBU too."

"How can that boy do that?" A nurse whispered in amazement.

"How could any Jounin just trip an ANBU like that? And he's so young to!" another agreed.

"His reflexes must be incredibly fast." A third chimed in.

Anju shot them a genuine Uchiha glare strong enough to burn a hole through a wall, making them scurry quickly away like terrified mice and Reiji just smirked devilishly after them as Sasuke got up off the floor, dusting himself off in the most dignified manner he could manage.

It wasn't hard to see just how alike Anju and Reiji were, or even how much they were like the Kyuubi. Anju could be incredibly bitter, while Reiji could just be incredibly bitterly sarcastic and sadistic, even to the point where he enjoyed the pain of enemies. They had clearly inherited some of the Kyuubi's traits—or they could be counted as traits from Naruto when he was losing control to the Kyuubi's chakra, making them his dark characteristics—but they weren't prominent enough, so the council wanted nothing to do with them.

Neither had ever really caused any problems in the village, and they had both graduated to Jounin at the age of twelve, even though Reiji preferred to concentrate more on his own amusement than his studies, just like Sasuke had clearly remembered Naruto doing when he was younger.

Their control over fire chakra—which had been inherited from both parents—was phenomenal, even though Reiji still had trouble with simple chakra control to the point where he couldn't even create a decent clone of himself that he could keep from disappearing for more than a minute, but because of his other skills, he could easily keep up with Anju's genius.

But their dark sides weren't the only things that had been inherited from the Kyuubi. Needless to say it had caused quite a commotion when the twin infants had opened their eyes the first time. Both had deep blue, almost purple eyes, with slit pupils just like when Naruto lost himself to the Kyuubi's chakra. It hadn't taken Sasuke long to figure out that the purple color came from a mix of Naruto's blue and red eyes, depending on which chakra he was using. But after Naruto had tickled Reiji and he'd laughed happily and not like the Kyuubi's sadistic laugh, Sasuke had let all doubts out of his mind. The Kyuubi couldn't laugh like that, so there was no way the baby was some sort of reincarnation of the demon fox.

Sasuke and Naruto had later discovered that the twins could see chakra in the air like the Kyuubi had been able to, giving them huge advantages in fights and also warning them when Sasuke and Naruto were fighting so to steer clear of them, so it seemed that the Kyuubi had decided not to remove the traits—or gifts—that it had given them while Naruto was pregnant even though it had been sealed away again.

Both twins had pitch-black hair. Reiji's was always a short mess, though it wasn't spiky like Naruto's, as everyone had been expecting. Actually, it was more spiked straight back like Sasuke's was without the raven's bangs, but unlike his father's, Reiji's hair spiked back on its own like when Naruto had used the Kyuubi's powers, making his features look almost sharper and more dangerous, while Anju's was long past her shoulders, closer now to her waist. Both also had pale skin, which contrasted amazingly with their purple eyes.

With both Sasuke and Naruto sometimes on long ANBU missions, the twins had grown up almost attached to the hip. Even as they stood now, both leaned against the hospital wall waiting for some news from Sakura, Naruto's nurse, they were almost touching each other at their hips and elbows they were so close in proximity. Sasuke didn't trust the council enough to leave Anju and Reiji in the village when they went away, so they were always brought to Suna to be with Gaara, Kotori, and sometimes Neji—though the Hyuuga was usually on the same ANBU missions as Naruto and Sasuke—but even when they were in Konoha with both of their parents, one was never seen without the other.

Kotori, Gaara and Neji's daughter, was fifteen now, while the twins were sixteen. Much like both of her parents, she was always quiet and calm, though she had a temper to rival Gaara's before he met Naruto. Actually, the time to be most scared of her was when she was the calmest, because she seemed to get calmer the more infuriated she got, and things often broke when she was mad. She lived with Gaara in Suna most of the year, staying with Neji a month at a time or so during something dangerous at Suna, but for the time she wasn't living in Konoha with Neji, Neji was often in Suna with them. Gaara couldn't stay in Konoha for long periods of time because he was the Kazekage, but they did try to keep the family together as much as possible.

With Neji, Sasuke and Naruto all on the same ANBU team with Shikamaru and Sai, Naruto always said he felt bad for Gaara, who had to watch Reiji, Anju and Kotori while they were away, but the only people Sasuke felt bad for were Temari and Kankuro, who always had to watch the three during the day while Gaara was busy, and consequently Reiji's dark sense of humor that was **always** at someone else's expense. He had inherited Naruto's old title of the King of Pranks, though he added a dark twist to them.

Reiji was more open about caring for his family and friends, but even though Anju usually kept up a cold demeanor to almost everyone, she wasn't as strong as Reiji in other ways, to the point where she would even break down like Naruto used to when she was too scared or overwhelmed. Anju was stronger than Reiji in powers, but he was the only one who could keep her abilities from dwindling if she got too scared. On several occasions, Anju had only been able to complete the most important part of a mission because Reiji was there to keep her strong. To hold her hand, in a metaphorical way.

Sasuke dusted off his pants as he turned to the presence of his children's godfather, who he wouldn't have chosen, but he had to admit that Gaara was very protective, and that was good enough for him. Well, the tables were at least even, because even though Gaara probably wouldn't have chosen it either, Neji had chosen Sasuke and Hinata for Kotori's godparents, but Gaara had been unwavering on Naruto, so it had somehow ended up that Kotori had two godfathers and one godmother.

"Uchiha." Gaara said stiffly.

"Kazekage." Sasuke returned just as curtly. Reiji stifled a laugh with a snort at the usual atmosphere between Gaara and Sasuke, and Sasuke shot him a glare.

"Kotori." Anju nodded to the small girl beside Gaara, her face still emotionless. Kotori had long dark red hair wound up into a bun, the Hyuuga pearl-grey Byakugan, and the kanji for "family" tattooed right below her right eye. Why? Because she liked Gaara's scar, but neither of her fathers would allow self-mutilation so she had to get it tattooed.

"Anju. Reiji." She said in her quiet voice.

Reiji didn't say anything, instead just smirked and winked, making Kotori smile and Sasuke twitch.

"Neji is in this room, Kazekage." A nurse told Gaara, waving her hand to the room next to Naruto's. "His wounds are very minor, and he should be completely healed by tomorrow."

Gaara nodded and walked silently toward his room, Kotori right behind him. Reiji nudged her with his foot as she walked by, making her giggle. Sasuke felt his skin crawl; he liked Kotori, she was nice enough and insanely strong with both of her parents' abilities, but she was still Gaara and Neji's daughter.

"Loosen up dad, Kotori's not pregnant yet." Reiji said and Sasuke's spine stiffened visibly.

"If you…" he turned slowly to Reiji, silencing at his son's devilish grin. Even Anju had cracked a smirk, a dead giveaway that he was just joking.

Sasuke sighed and faced Naruto's door again, his shoulders hunching up as he heard Reiji murmur, "Yet."

"Watch it." Anju warned just as quietly. "Dad's scared enough, don't make him pop a blood vessel."

Reiji sighed and shifted against the wall to look away.

"Devil child." Sasuke muttered to himself, smirking as Reiji laughed.

"Only for you dad." Reiji said lightly, shrugging.

Later

Sasuke pushed open the door to Naruto's room, and immediately a huge smile lit up the blonde's face, even thought his torso was covered in strips of white and he was plugged into several different machines across the room. Sasuke crossed the room and pulled back the covers, surveying the bandages covering gash in Naruto's side.

…They didn't even look that bad. Why did Tsunade call him then?

Naruto poked the bloodstains, scoffing a little. "I don't even know why they bothered to bring me here. It'll be healed by midnight. Making everyone worry." He muttered scathingly.

Sasuke snorted and sat down on the bed next to Naruto. _So it was worse earlier, before I got here. I don't know why they panic, unless Naruto's got a hole punched through his chest, he should be fine._

"Why didn't you get healed first?" Naruto barked suddenly, grabbing Sasuke's arm and keeping him from lying down as he inspected the bloody slash-mark on Sasuke's forearm. It was pretty deep, but it was numb now, so he didn't care.

"Because when Tsunade contacted me, she made it sound like you were dying." He retorted easily, placing the covers back over Naruto's legs and settling himself down next to the blonde. "It doesn't hurt Dobe."

"Yea, probably because the nerves are severed."

Sasuke looked down at his arm, confused at the anger in Naruto's voice until he saw that Naruto had stuck two fingers into the gash and was now glaring at him like he was a complete moron. Both were up to the first knuckle, and he couldn't even feel it.

"Idiot." Naruto chided, and ran his palm over the gash as his skin started to glow red. Sasuke laid his head on the pillow, watching Naruto work over his wound, and soon the skin began to knit itself back together at an almost disturbingly fast rate. As soon as it was done, Naruto scooted back under the covers, placing his head against Sasuke's.

"…You really should have gotten that healed first." Naruto said after a moment, his voice sluggish. Sasuke wondered how many pain meds Tsunade had him on to keep him from throwing a fit about having to stay in the hospital even though he was going to be completely healed in just a few hours.

"It wasn't important, Dobe."

"Bastard."

"Usuratonkachi."

Later, Reiji pushed the door to his dad's room open, he and Anju beside him stopping when they saw both of their parents passed out on the bed, Sasuke unmoving and Naruto a pile of limbs draped in every which way over the bed. Already, the blood on the bandages looked weeks old.

Reiji snorted, letting out a low whistle as Naruto groaned and flopped himself closer and more on top of Sasuke while Anju just grimaced next to him.

"I'm going to be sick." She muttered, walking back out of the room.

Reiji watched her go, and shook his head after a moment so she wouldn't see him, a slight smile playing on his lips. She tried to act so cold. He didn't see the smile Anju was smothering as she walked away.

He looked back to his parents and whispered, "Keep it PG, you don't know if they have cameras in here."

Sasuke groaned in his sleep at that, wrapping an arm around Naruto and pulling him in closer protectively. Reiji let out a short laugh at that before closing the door behind him and racing after his sister.

That Night

Sasuke leaned silently against the balcony railing outside the pitch-black third floor of the Uchiha compound, watching the figures move around on the patio below him. No lights were on so he wouldn't be seen, but he made a mental note to lecture Reiji and Anju on not staying alert for people's presences at all times later. Sasuke knew Naruto's excuse would be that they're kids, which they were, but if he were from a different village, they would all be dead right now.

Reiji was sitting on the railing of first floor balcony, Kotori standing in front of him as they talked and laughed together quietly. Sasuke had been watching them since he felt Kotori's presence appear a good twenty minutes ago. He guessed that he wasn't supposed to know she was here because no one came to tell him that she was visiting, so he didn't make an effort to make himself noticed.

Sasuke's eyes snapped to the right as the dirt on the balcony suddenly shifted irregularly for the direction of the wind, before swirling up and parting to reveal Gaara before sinking silently back to the balcony floor. Gaara joined him to stand next to the railing, overlooking the children. Ok, now Sasuke **knew** that Kotori hadn't told anyone she would be here.

Sasuke twitched as Kotori suddenly stepped forward and leaned up on her toes to kiss Reiji. He put his hands lightly on her waist, holding her up so she wouldn't have to strain because of how much shorter she was than him. Gaara only chucked beside him at his reaction and Sasuke's scowl deepened.

Anju stepped out of the kitchen and onto the balcony. Reiji and Kotori looked up at her, but they didn't move apart.

"I don't know where Sasuke is, maybe getting a new mission from Tsunade, but Naruto's asleep. We should be fine." She said quietly, shifting her cloak to better cover her shoulders against the cold night air.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder as Naruto stepped up next to them to look over the railing, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

"You're supposed to be asleep."

"Shut up." Naruto smirked and leaned against him, his eyes suddenly darting up as he strained to see something in the forest. Sasuke looked up, waiting until it came into his range of view, because he couldn't see it now even if Naruto could with the Kyuubi's senses. Gaara's eyes also drifted up uninterestedly as something came into their view, and soon Rikiya flew out of the forest, landing lightly on the balls of his feet on the railing next to where Reiji was sitting. He had the same triangular tattoos on his cheeks as Kiba, and his Byakugan was shining through the night, the light from the kitchen reflecting on their pale grey surfaces.

"Hey shrimp." He said casually to Kotori before stepping down to peck Anju on the lips and Kotori punched him jokingly, though his did rub his arm afterwards in pain while Anju struggled to smother a giggle.

Rikiya, Reiji and Naruto were the only ones Kotori let tease her. She had a surprisingly violent temper towards anyone else who bugged her in any way. The angrier she got, the calmer she acted, which is why she was deadly in battle if her enemy pushed her buttons just the right way. She had the calm frame of mind to fight without losing her head, but the anger to really want to do damage.

Sasuke stiffened again at the kiss and Naruto leaned over to run his tongue over the shell of Sasuke's ear. "Lighten up." he whispered. "Kiba's not that bad, so don't take it out on Rikiya."

"Rikiya's worse." Sasuke retaliated bitterly and Naruto just rolled his eyes.

Naruto looked up again towards the path to the main part of the village, and Sasuke and Gaara joined him when they felt two more people coming down the road.

"It's a party tonight, huh?" Naruto asked casually, leaning in closer to Sasuke. Sasuke suspected it was to keep him from moving and going down to beat the daylights out of his moron kids. If either Kotori or Anju got pregnant as young as Naruto had, there would be **hell** to pay.

Aya and Wakaba came into view and the kids turned to wave them over, gesturing for them to stay quiet.

"You didn't tell your parents?" Wakaba asked after she jumped up to the balcony. Aya just joined the party silently. He rarely did any significant talking, just a few sentences and opinions here and there.

"You kidding?" Rikiya snorted. "Sasuke would **murder me.**"

"Us." Reiji corrected easily and Rikiya nodded.

"Murasaki and Ran are with Sakura." Aya said quietly, so much so that Sasuke and Gaara had to strain to hear him. "Sakura thinks we're training with you," he nodded to Kotori, "where are we going tonight?"

"Nowhere." Gaara cut in suddenly, making everyone below them freeze before slowly looking up above them.

"I hope you all know that if we were ANBU from any other village than this, you'd be dead right now." Naruto said after a moment. Good, at least Sasuke wasn't the only one thinking that.

Kotori was the first one to break the silence of the teenagers. "…I'm dead, aren't I?"

"…Does Neji know where you are?" Gaara asked after a moment. He didn't seem annoyed at all, so Sasuke guessed Kotori's edginess was for Neji's reaction. Neji was just as protective as Sasuke was. Sasuke had always blamed that nervousness on the fact that both he and Naruto were ANBU, and that put his kids in a very dangerous position from enemies of the village, not to mention the fact that both of them could die at any time on an ANBU mission. Kotori's situation was just as dangerous, if not more. Being the daughter of an ANBU and a Kazekage—from different villages—also didn't make her wandering around by herself safe.

"…No." she admitted, though all three adults already knew that right from the start.

"…Let's go."

The sand on the balcony swirled up around Gaara and into a cloud before lifting into the air and flying off toward the Hyuuga compound. Kotori quickly kissed Reiji once more before leaping off of the balcony and racing after the cloud of sand through the trees. Sasuke closed his eyes and pretended to not have seen that.

"Are we dead too?" Reiji asked suddenly, leaning back to look up at both Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say that **hell** **yes** they were when Naruto suddenly cut him off, throwing out, "No, you aren't," before Sasuke could say anything.

"We're off the hook!" Reiji yelled, throwing his hands into the air and everyone on the balcony disappeared, their chakra disappearing into the woods before Sasuke had a chance to change Naruto's mind for him.

Sasuke whirled to snap something not entirely nice at Naruto when the blonde cut him off again, leaning forward onto the balcony. "They've got it hard with parents who tell them what they can and can't do, we never had that so I don't think the whole thing is fair. But I thought we could take advantage of while they're gone." He smirked suggestively up at Sasuke, who instantly kicked the blonde's feet out from under him to catch him and carry him back inside. Well, who wanted to go chasing after rambunctious teenagers anyways?

Naruto slid his arms around Sasuke's neck, pulling himself up to wrap his legs around the raven's. Sasuke laid his lips against Naruto's, climbing up onto the bed and sitting back on his heels, Naruto's ankles tightening around his back. Naruto's hands threaded into his hair, the kiss slow as Sasuke pushed the back of Naruto's shirt up. It had been such a difference, the first time they had slow sex. No rushing, no need to worry about who would attack Sasuke or try to capture Naruto next. Actually, it was so slow that afterwards both agreed to never have it that slow again, but it didn't take long for them to start to appreciate the sensations of not having to frantically pleasure each other.

Sasuke slipped Naruto's shirt over his head, keeping his lips on Naruto's every second he was able to while stripping the blonde. Naruto's mouth and tongue moved tantalizingly to his neck and the blonde pushed him back by his shoulders, settling on Sasuke's hips when Sasuke was flat on the bed. Naruto worked off Sasuke's clothes from there, dragging the pads of his fingers over Sasuke's chest, shoulders, neck and stomach as he worked. Sasuke sighed, settling back into the covers of the bed, watching the way Naruto's body moved over him.

With the Kyuubi's chakra because of their merged souls, every once in a while one of Naruto's movements would remind him of the blonde's very catlike transformation toward the Kyuubi's influence. He still flinched every time, even though Naruto had just been resealed two years ago and they had at least twelve years to go. This time, though he did wince as Naruto's back arched while the blonde's tongue ghosted down his torso, it didn't take him long to relax again and close his eyes, letting Naruto's touches overwhelm his body.

Naruto slipped down his pants and a large breath escaped Sasuke's throat as Naruto's breath drifted over his manhood. Naruto's hand encased him, drawing up and down in slow deliberate movements. Sasuke knew Naruto was doing this just to lessen the functioning in his brain so he would be in control, and honestly, right now Sasuke didn't care **who** was on top, who rode who, who fucked who or who came first as long as Naruto did something before the head of his manhood popped off his shaft from over stimulation.

Finally, Naruto moved his hand to spit in his palm, slicking Sasuke's length again before he climbed up onto Sasuke's hips, leaning forward and deliberately missing touching him in any way except to kiss him. Sasuke smiled back at his Dobe's blinding smirk and wrapped his arms around Naruto's shoulders, pulling the blonde into another kiss. He slipped his tongue into Naruto's mouth this time, determined to have some control in this as Naruto sat down slowly on his manhood.

Both let out a huge sigh, Naruto's head lolling back onto his shoulders as he lowered himself more onto Sasuke, Sasuke trying to keep his breathing even. Naruto was still a moment after his thighs were flat against Sasuke's hips, and Sasuke took the moment to push himself up off the bed so he was sitting up and looking into Naruto's eyes. Naruto's hands found his shoulders as he started moving, slowly and consciously, and Sasuke's hands wound around Naruto's waist, holding him close. He kissed the blonde's nose once, and Naruto smirked back, sweat dripping down his back as he leaned in and pressed his legs to Sasuke's.

"I love you Sasuke."

"Me too Dobe."

Naruto stuck his tongue out and Sasuke took the opportunity to capture it in his mouth, moving his own tongue against it as Naruto moved up and down over him. Naruto's hands found the back of his neck, holding their mouths together, and Sasuke in turn squeezed Naruto tighter around his waist.

Naruto suddenly clenched around him, and Sasuke grunted, dipping his head to lean against Naruto's chest as Naruto groaned, his head dropping back again, and something hot splattered onto Sasuke's stomach. It only took a second for his own orgasm to come, and he groaned into Naruto's chest, swirling his tongue around Naruto's nipples.

They sat with each other for a moment, breathing deeply before Naruto's hand suddenly reached around Sasuke, flapping and floundering around until it came back with Sasuke's shirt. Naruto wiped his seed off of their stomachs before leaning back, taking Sasuke with him as he flopped back onto the pillows with a contented sigh. Sasuke smiled and slid himself out of Naruto, his smirk growing when he saw the way Naruto's expression changed pleasurably for that second. He settled on his stomach next to Naruto, pulling the blankets over them and laying his head on his arms after Naruto draped one arm over Sasuke's back and basically molded himself to the raven's side. He leaned up and kissed Sasuke lightly on the cheek before melding back into Sasuke's side.

"Sasuke," Naruto said suddenly, "do you think me being Hokage after Tsunade dies will… put our family in danger?"

Sasuke blinked, pretending to think for a second before he said, "Yes." _Duh Dobe._

Naruto stuck his bottom lip out, pouting slightly in the way that made Sasuke's toes tingle. "You were supposed to reassure me. Tsunade's already told me I'm going to be the sixth. I think she threatened the council to get me the position, but for whatever reason, they agreed."

Sasuke snorted and leaned over, pulling Naruto onto his chest as he rolled onto his back.

"Reiji and Anju are almost skilled enough to be ANBU now, and they're as old as you were when you became an ANBU. They have some of the Kyuubi's powers and each other; they can take care of themselves. Don't stop following your dream just because you're afraid for us."

"And Kotori?" Naruto shot back instantly. "She's our goddaughter and she and Reiji are really close even now."

Sasuke sighed at the mention of that and Naruto smacked him lightly, telling him to lighten up before the blonde kissed the tip of his nose again.

Sasuke looked to the ceiling, thinking again before he turned back to Naruto. "Byakugan and sand manipulation, besides, she's already in enough danger being the daughter of a Kazekage. Being the daughter-in-law of a Hokage isn't going to do anything."

"What if Anju marries Rikiya?" Naruto insisted.

"…I think Anju's strong enough to protect both of them."

"But she freaks out if it's only **her** getting too overwhelmed! How can she focus on two people—?"

"Remember their last mission to the Water Country, when Reiji was knocked unconscious by the sleeping drug? Anju still completed her part—the most important part of the mission, and I think it was because Rikiya was there. Besides, she doesn't have a nervous breakdown every time she's attacked; it takes a lot to overwhelm her. Usually it's just when Reiji's in danger so she can't concentrate on keeping herself safe, which is why she gets scared."

Naruto sighed, thinking for a second before he relaxed into Sasuke's chest, seeming to accept this. "Yeah… Rikiya is very strong willed, and he does have the Byakugan…" He snickered suddenly. "What do you think their children would look like?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, with both the Byakugan and the Sharingan."

"…I wonder what the council will say to that." Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle too at yet another fuck you to the council. He lived to mess with the councils' heads, and to scare them as much as he possibly could. So far, with two jinchuuriki with children, a traitor back in the village and head of the best ANBU team in the village, one of the best ANBU traveling between two countries to keep his family together, and the possibility of some of the most powerful Kekkei Genkais and chakra merging in the future to create grandchildren with godlike powers, Sasuke had to say that he thought they were doing a pretty damn good job.

"Wow, our grandchildren are going to be fucking **invincible**." Naruto laughed again, leaning down to press his lips to Sasuke's.

"Ugh! **Gross**!"

Sasuke and Naruto's head snapped up to the door, where Anju, Reiji and Rikiya stood. Reiji's tongue was hanging out of his mouth, Anju looked pretty damn near paralyzed, and Rikiya looked like he was trying to come to terms with the fact that he would never get over this image.

"Well here's an idea," Naruto barked back, "next time, knock. Problem solved! And we have covers on, grow up."

"Oh god, I'm going to have nightmares for weeks," Anju moaned, walking back down the hallway and leaving her brother and his best friend there. Sasuke called Rikiya only Reiji's best friend because he didn't feel like accepting that night that Anju and Rikiya were actually a couple, and because Reiji and Rikiya **were** best friends, it didn't feel like denial right then.

"…Well," Reiji said finally, "I was going to ask if Rikiya could spend the night, but now I'm not so sure he wants to anymore."

"He can stay," Naruto said huskily, leaning down to slip his tongue into Sasuke's mouth. Said raven was having a hard time not laughing; Naruto was having way too much fun with this.

"Uh, thanks Sensei, I think I'll crash at home tonight." Rikiya said, struggling to smile. Well, Sasuke had to admit that Rikiya was polite, but that was his **only** good quality.

"No, seriously Rikiya, you can stay." Naruto smiled, rolling off of Sasuke. "We already finished while you were gone."

"Dad!" Reiji groaned, marching away and leaving Rikiya at the door, even more stunned now than before.

"Uh, g-goodnight Sensei, Sasuke." He said finally, closing the door after him. Naruto immediately flopped over and smothered himself in the pillow so they wouldn't hear him dying of laughter.

Sasuke waited until the kids' footsteps were gone before pulling the pillow off Naruto's face, smirking slightly as he said, "You're not changing your mind, are you? You sound like you're trying to get yourself out of being Hokage."

Naruto punched him lightly in the side for that before rolling back over to hang onto his arm, leaning up to kiss him again. "I **am** going to be the next Hokage… and still be able to be your Seeing Eye Fox when you go blind in a few years."

"I'm not going blind, Dobe."

"…Huh?"

"Tsunade insisted on checking my eyesight the other day because of the thing with the Kyuubi two years ago even though I knew it was fine. Nothing's gotten worse or even changed about it." Sasuke let his fingers drift up to the teeth marks on his neck. "I think this is keeping it from getting bad, like… when the Kyuubi sealed the Sharingan away, some of its chakra attached to it and is keeping it from getting bad. The fox's chakra is definitely strong enough to do that. I'm not sure, but the Kyuubi's chakra might even keep Reiji and Anju's Sharingan from going bad."

Naruto stuck his bottom lip out again, pouting.

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"I was looking forward to you being helpless for once." Naruto sighed.

Sasuke cuffed him upside the head playfully before kissing him again. 

Thanks everyone so much for those who stuck with me all the way through! (I'm sorry if there are typos in this, it's kinda late right now…)

I'm listening to Hello Fascination by Breathe Carolina right now, two tests of mine have been pushed back and I'm getting over being sick, all is right in the world!

I hope you liked the children well enough, I know it's hard to like OC's sometimes.

Thank you so much to all of my regular reviewers; you guys are the reason I finished this story! (You're also the reason I wrote it in the first place!)

I hope to have my next story up very soon after finishing Fire Doesn't Burn Like Ice (Fruits Basket), which I should finish very soon.

I'm in a Bleach mood! But as to whether it'll be yaoi, yuri or straight… who knows yet!

Review and tell me what you thought of the epilogue and what you think of for another story!

Thank so much again everyone!


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